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flee Meaning & Definition

/ˈfliː/

What Does Flee Mean?

Flee is a verb that means To run away; to escape. It is also used to mean To escape from.

Quick Facts About Flee

Part of speechverb
Pronunciation/ˈfliː/
Synonymsfly and take flight
Verb formsflees, fleeing, fled

Flee Definition (Verb)

  1. To run away; to escape.

    The prisoner tried to flee, but was caught by the guards.

  2. To escape from.

    Many people fled the country as war loomed.

  3. To disappear quickly; to vanish; to fleet.

    Ethereal products flee once freely exposed to air.

Verb

  1. To disappear quickly; to vanish.

    Ethereal products flee once freely exposed to air.

Synonyms of Flee

flytake flight
Flee synonyms and antonyms →

Flee in a Sentence

The prisoner tried to flee, but was caught by the guards.

Many people fled the country as war loomed.

Thousands of people moved northward trying to flee the drought.

Ethereal products flee once freely exposed to air.

Word Forms & Grammar

flee (third-person singular simple present flees, present participle fleeing, simple past and past participle fled or (nonstandard) fleed)

Words That Rhyme With Flee

Origin of Flee

Origin 1: 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”).

Origin 2: Cognate with Dutch vlieden, German fliehen, Icelandic flýja, Swedish fly, Gothic 𐌸𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌷𐌰𐌽 (þliuhan). Within English, related to fly and more distantly to flow.

Quick Answers About Flee

What part of speech is flee?

Flee is a verb.

What is another word for flee?

Words with a similar meaning to flee include fly and take flight. See the full list of flee synonyms and antonyms.

What is the past tense of flee?

The past tense of flee is fled. The present participle is fleeing.

More About Flee On Meaning Stash

More Words Starting With “Fle”