Meaning & use
escape notice
Last updated
Meanings
phraseidiomformal
To not be seen or noticed by someone.
Grammar: Used with a subject that is the thing not noticed: The error escaped notice. It is often in the negative: did not escape notice.
Patterns
- something escapes notice
- something did not escape notice
- escape someone's notice
The small change in the figures escaped notice for several weeks.
Her sudden absence did not escape notice at the office.
Such a serious mistake could hardly escape notice.
phraseidiomformal
To fail to be noticed by a particular person, especially someone who should have seen it.
Grammar: Often followed by a possessive: escape someone's notice. The person is not the subject of the sentence.
Patterns
- escape someone's notice
- escape the notice of someone
The missing signature escaped the manager's notice.
Nothing escapes her notice when she checks the accounts.
Common combinations
- did not escape notice
- The rise in prices did not escape notice among shoppers.
- escape someone's notice
- The typo escaped my notice until a reader pointed it out.
- hardly escape notice
- A building that tall could hardly escape notice.
- escape the notice of
- The problem escaped the notice of the safety team.
Synonyms and how they differ
- go unnoticed
- A more everyday phrase with the same meaning; it is less formal and does not usually take a possessive like 'someone's notice'.
- pass unnoticed
- Very close in meaning, but it suggests something happens without being seen, rather than simply not being noticed.
Opposites
Commonly confused: escape notice or take notice?
escape notice vs take notice
Take notice means to pay attention on purpose; escape notice means to fail to be noticed. They look similar but point in opposite directions.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'escape notice' correctly?
Choose one answer.
In this phrase the thing not noticed is the subject, so 'The mistake escaped notice' is correct. Option 1 uses 'escape' as a physical verb with a place, option 2 adds a wrong pattern with 'to', and option 3 reverses the subject and object.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “escape notice”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.