flee

English · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

flee

  • /ˈfliː/
  • [ˈflɪi̯]

Sounds like flea · Rhymes with -iː

Where it comes from

From Middle English flen, from Old English flēon, from Proto-West Germanic *fleuhan, from Proto-Germanic *fleuhaną, from Proto-Indo-European *plewk-, *plew- (“to fly, flow, run”).

Cognate with Dutch vlieden, German fliehen, Icelandic flýja, Swedish fly, Gothic 𐌸𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌷𐌰𐌽 (þliuhan). Within English, related to fly and more distantly to flow.

verb flees · fleeing · fled · fleed

  1. intransitive To run away; to escape. The prisoner tried to flee, but was caught by the guards.

    Similar: run for it

  2. transitive To escape from. Many people fled the country as war loomed.
  3. intransitive To disappear quickly; to vanish; to fleet. Ethereal products flee once freely exposed to air.

Similar: abscond, absquatulate, amscray, beat a retreat, beat it, beat feet, blow this popsicle stand, bolt, book it, dine and dash, do a bunk, do a flit, do a moonlight flit, do a runner, flee, fly the coop, jump, gas and dash, get lost, get out, gnash, head for the hills, hightail, hightail it, hit the road, kick rocks, leg it, make a break for it, make a run for it, make tracks

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: take flight, fly, absquatulate, skedaddle, elope, jailbreak, escaping, escape, abscond, dodge, elude, exit, depart, evade, evacuate, vacate

Translations

Every language

verb (intransitive) to run away; to escape

Españolhuir, huirse, fugarse, fuir, fugir, furtarse
한국어달아나다 daranada, 도망치다 domangchida, 도망가다 domanggada
日本語逃げる nigeru
中文逃 táo, 奔逃 bēntáo, 奔 bēn
हिन्दीभागना bhāgnā
Portuguêsescapar, fugir
Françaiss'enfuir, prendre la fuite
Deutschfliehen, flüchten
Italianofuggire
Ελληνικάφεύγω févgo
Românăscăpa, evada, fugi
Русскийубега́ть ubegátʹ, убежа́ть ubežátʹ, удира́ть udirátʹ, удра́ть udrátʹ
Tiếng Việtbôn, bôn đào, bỏ chạy
العربيةهَرَبَ haraba, فَرَّ farra
עבריתנָס nás

verb (transitive) to escape from

Españolhuir
日本語逃げる nigeru
Portuguêsescapar de, fugir de
Françaisfuir, échapper
Deutschfliehen, entfliehen, flüchten
Românăfugi
Русскийубега́ть ubegátʹ, убежа́ть ubežátʹ, удира́ть udirátʹ, удра́ть udrátʹ

verb to disappear quickly

Portuguêssumir
Românăa se evapora, dispărea
Русскийулету́чиваться uletúčivatʹsja, улету́читься uletúčitʹsja

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"flee." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/flee. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

flee. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/flee

Chicago

"flee." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/flee.

BibTeX
@misc{flee_2026,
  title = {flee},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/flee},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}