Word.ws English Dictionary

take the easy way out

take the easy way out verb: to cut corners; to follow the path of least resistance; to take shortcuts to avoid pain or having to struggle to achieve a desired result; to end or avoid a difficult situation in an easy or simple way that is not the best or most sensible or honorable solution.

Verb

take the easy way out (third-person singular simple present takes the easy way out, present participle taking the easy way out, simple past took the easy way out, past participle taken the easy way out)

  1. To cut corners; to follow the path of least resistance; to take shortcuts to avoid pain or having to struggle to achieve a desired result; to end or avoid a difficult situation in an easy or simple way that is not the best or most sensible or honorable solution.
    • I wish I was a tradesman / Learnin' from some beat down old layman / […] Wanna sweat like hell, throw a hammer down / And know the old feelin' of a five o'clock smile / And know I didn't take no easy way out2023, Bryan Zachary Lane, “Tradesman”, in Bryan Zach, performed by Bryan Zach, Warner Records, →OCLC

Forms of take the easy way out

third-person singular presenttakes the easy way out
present participletaking the easy way out
pasttook the easy way out
past participletaken the easy way out

Questions about take the easy way out

What does take the easy way out mean?
Take the easy way out means to cut corners; to follow the path of least resistance; to take shortcuts to avoid pain or having to struggle to achieve a desired result; to end or avoid a difficult situation in an easy or simple way that is not the best or most sensible or honorable solution.
What part of speech is take the easy way out?
Take the easy way out is a verb.
What is the past tense of take the easy way out?
The past tense of take the easy way out is took the easy way out.

Words near take the easy way out in the dictionary

  1. take the con
  2. take the count
  3. take the coward's way out
  4. take the cross
  5. take the cure
  6. take the easy way out
  7. take the edge off
  8. take the fall
  9. take the field
  10. take the fifth
  11. take the flak

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take the easy way out (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-take the easy way out.wav.

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