Meaning & use
escapee
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Meanings
nouncountable
A person who has got away from a prison, camp, or other place where they were held against their will.
Grammar: Countable: one escapee, two escapees.
Patterns
- an escapee from something
Police warned residents that an escapee from the prison was in the area.
The escapee was caught two days later in a nearby town.
Several escapees from the camp reached the border.
nouncountable
An animal that has got out of a cage, farm, zoo, or other enclosure.
Grammar: Often followed by from: an escapee from the zoo.
Patterns
- an escapee from something
A lost parrot, an escapee from a nearby home, sat in our tree.
The escapee, a young llama, wandered down the main road.
Farmers hunted the escapees from the mink farm.
Word forms
| plural | escapees |
|---|
Common combinations
- prison escapee
- The prison escapee was seen near the railway.
- a recaptured escapee
- A recaptured escapee was returned to custody on Monday.
- an escapee from
- He was an escapee from a labor camp.
- dangerous escapee
- Officers described him as a dangerous escapee.
- search for an escapee
- Helicopters joined the search for the escapee.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fugitive
- A fugitive is anyone running from the law, who may never have been locked up, whereas an escapee has specifically broken out of confinement.
- runaway
- Runaway usually suggests a young person or animal who has left home voluntarily, not someone held in custody.
- absconder
- Absconder is more formal and often means someone who leaves a place or obligation, such as bail, without permission.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: escapee or escapist?
escapee vs escapist
An escapist is someone who avoids reality through fantasy, not someone who breaks out of a place.
Practice
The police asked the public to look out for the ___ who had climbed over the prison wall last night.
Choose one answer.
An escapee is a person who has got out of confinement. An escapist avoids reality, an escapade is an adventure, and escapism is the habit of avoiding reality.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “escapee”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.