escaping

verb

present participle of escape
1
as in fleeing
to get free from a dangerous or confining situation everyone managed to escape from the burning building in time

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in avoiding
to get or keep away from (as a responsibility) through cleverness or trickery a judge who is very determined not to let criminals escape punishment

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of escaping NurPhoto via Getty Images Anthropic has quietly joined the frontier labs designing their own chips, a shift driven less by escaping Nvidia than by the arithmetic of serving billions of tokens a day. — Jon Markman, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2026 The alcohol-burning products were associated with 31 reports of flame jettings and flames escaping from the concrete container, resulting in 19 burn injuries. — Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2026 To break through the water’s tight molecular network, the escaping CO2 relies on nucleation sites—microscopic rough spots, impurities, or foreign objects that disrupt the arrangement of water molecules and allow gas molecules to easily cluster. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Aug. 2026 In 2027, the fair moves to its new dates in late September in hopes of escaping triple-digit summer temperatures. — Don Sweeney, Sacbee.com, 5 Aug. 2026 Hissing Hissing in your ductwork suggests air is escaping, which isn’t good, but also not an emergency. — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 5 Aug. 2026 To be very clear, this was not a case of AI agents escaping from their virtual testing sandbox and wreaking havoc on the live Internet. — Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 5 Aug. 2026 In recent years, this province on the northern coast has become a fashionable retreat for Madrileños escaping the ever-increasing inland summer heat. — Simon Willis, Travel + Leisure, 4 Aug. 2026 Seal air leaks and improve insulation to stop conditioned air from escaping your home. — Alora Bopray, USA Today, 30 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for escaping
  1. fleeing
  2. avoiding
  3. flying
  4. evading
Verb
  • An Aurora man accused of killing a female bicyclist in Hampshire with his pickup truck and then fleeing the scene has been charged with felony failure to report a crash resulting in a death, officials said.
    — Elgin Courier-News, Chicago Tribune, 12 Aug. 2026
  • Key Background Reiner was accused of fatally stabbing his parents at their home in December and was arrested that same day after fleeing.
    — Antonio Pequeño IV, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of fleeing
Verb
  • McDaniel had his reasons for avoiding supplying his own depth chart beyond not wishing to see it in print or on a website or TV network.
    — Elliott Teaford, Oc Register, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Now some pregnant women and others are avoiding health centers for fear of the virus, at risk to their lives.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of avoiding
Verb
  • Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was on the other plane flying with the president, sources said.
    — Katherine Faulders, ABC News, 12 Aug. 2026
  • Patrick Gotwalt was a passenger on the flight and recorded a video showing flames coming from the engine as the flight appears to be flying over water.
    — Amanda Jackson, CNN Money, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of flying
Verb
  • In the video, the riders can be seen speeding, popping wheelies, driving on sidewalks and evading police.
    — Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 Aug. 2026
  • He also was booked on four outstanding warrants related to evading law enforcement, according to police.
    — Nicole Buss, Sacbee.com, 29 July 2026
Definition of evading

Browse Nearby Words

escapes
escaping
escapism
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Cite this Entry

“Escaping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/escaping. Accessed 14 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on escaping

Nglish: Translation of escaping for Spanish Speakers

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