flee
/ˈfliː/
flee verb: to run away; to escape.
Verb
flee (third-person singular simple present flees, present participle fleeing, simple past and past participle fled or (nonstandard) fleed)
- To run away; to escape.
- The prisoner tried to flee, but was caught by the guards.
- The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bolde as a lyon.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 28:1
- Synonyms:
- run for it
- To escape from.
- Many people fled the country as war loomed.
- Thousands of people moved northward trying to flee the drought.
- To disappear quickly; to vanish; to fleet.
- Ethereal products flee once freely exposed to air.
flee meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
flee in Hindi
- (intransitive) to run away; to escape
- भागना bhāgnā
flee in Tamil
- தப்பி ஓடு, புறமுதுகிடு
flee in Urdu
- (intransitive) to run away; to escape
- بهاگنا bhāgnā
flee in Bengali
- (intransitive) to run away; to escape
- পালানো palanō, ভাগা bhaga, ফেরার করা pherar kora
More languagesFewer languages
- flee in Telugu
- పారిపోవు pāripōvu
- flee in Malayalam
- ത്യജിക്കുക tyajikkuka
- flee in Kannada
- ಓಡಿಹೋಗು, ಪಲಾಯನ ಮಾಡು, ಕಂಬಿಕೀಳು, ಕಾಲ್ದೆಗೆ
- flee in Punjabi
- ਨੱਸਣਾ nassaṇā
- flee in Sanskrit
- याति yā́ti, द्रवति drávati, या yā
- flee in Assamese
- পলা pola
- flee in Arabic
- هَرَبَ haraba, فَرَّ farra
- flee in Persian
- گریختن gorixtan, فرار کردن
- flee in Thai
- หนี nǐi
- flee in Vietnamese
- bôn, bôn đào, bỏ chạy
- flee in Myanmar
- ထွက်ပြေး htwakpre:, လိုက်ပြေး luikpre:, ပြေး pre:
Examples of flee in a sentence
- He appeared, a "monster of so frightful mien", with noise making apparatus which produced such a terrifying din that even the hardiest demon was likely to flee.1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 254:
- To move towards danger when others are fleeing is the definition of bravery in my book.2025 November 12, Philip Haigh, “High praise for rail staff's courage and clear thinking”, in RAIL, number 1048, page 50:
- The Government, having lit the fuse, is not going to be allowed to flee the explosion.1962 October, “Talking of Trains: Passed to you, Mr. Macmillan”, in Modern Railways, page 220:
Synonyms of flee
- run for it
- abscond
- absquatulate
- amscray
- beat a retreat
- beat it
- beat feet
- blow this popsicle stand
- bolt
- book it
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- dine and dash
- do a bunk
- do a flit
- do a moonlight flit
- do a runner
- fly the coop
- 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
- peg it
- rabbit
- run a mile
- run away
- run for the hills
- run off
- scamper
- scat
- scarper
- shemozzle
- scram
Forms of flee
| third-person singular present | flees |
|---|---|
| present participle | fleeing |
| past participle | fled |
| past | fled |
| past participle (nonstandard) | fleed |
| past (nonstandard) | fleed |
Origin of flee
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.
Words formed from flee
Words that rhyme with flee
Questions about flee
- What does flee mean?
- Flee means to run away; to escape.
- What is flee in Hindi?
- Flee in Hindi is भागना (bhāgnā). See Flee meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use flee in a sentence?
- He appeared, a "monster of so frightful mien", with noise making apparatus which produced such a terrifying din that even the hardiest demon was likely to flee.
- What part of speech is flee?
- Flee is a verb.
- How do you pronounce flee?
- Flee is pronounced /ˈfliː/.
- What is the past tense of flee?
- The past tense of flee is fled.
Words near flee in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: flee (page history and authors); flee (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ത്യജിക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); flee (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਨੱਸਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); द्रवति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); পলা (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-flee.ogg.
Cite this entry: “flee.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/flee. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.