flee

verb

ˈflē How to pronounce flee (audio)
Definition of fleenext
1
as in to disappear
to cease to be visible the fog fled with the arrival of the dawn

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to escape
to get free from a dangerous or confining situation a murderer who fled on foot

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to retreat
to hasten away from something dangerous or frightening a toddler who fled when the ladybug he had been quietly watching suddenly began flying around the room

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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 flee Eleven individuals suffered gunshot wounds, while one person sustained an ankle injury while attempting to flee the gunfire. — Eric MacK, FOXNews.com, 26 Oct. 2026 One person also sustained an ankle injury while fleeing the gunfire, police said. — Adela Suliman, NBC news, 26 Oct. 2026 Berbatovci, for his part, is a product designer who was born in Pristina, Kosovo, before fleeing the war and eventually making his way to Berlin. — Mark Holgate, Vogue, 26 Oct. 2026 In addition to those shot, a victim’s grandmother was injured while fleeing the scene near Florida A&M’s Bragg Memorial Stadium. — Karina Tsui, CNN Money, 25 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for flee
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flee
  1. disappear
  2. escape
  3. retreat
  4. vanish
  5. fly
  6. fade
  7. bolt
  8. run
Verb
  • To shoppers, the chain disappears, until next September or so, when another store pops up somewhere in the neighborhood.
    — Catherina Gioino, Fortune, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Two experienced military observers described a silent craft that performed abrupt maneuvers before disappearing.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of disappear
Verb
  • For all its tests, the company builds realistic simulated environments, red teams these environments itself and with third parties to see whether they can be escaped, and monitors what agents do.
    — Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Most of the work of recovery is about treating whatever is causing people to escape their lives into endless scrolling and stimulation, Kardaras says.
    — Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of escape
Verb
  • Longtime collaborator Erik Blood foregrounds Butler’s dry drum machines in the mix, letting every other element shuffle around them, snaking toward the spotlight for a brief moment and retreating back into the brume.
    — Dash Lewis, Pitchfork, 23 Oct. 2026
  • If broadcaster partnerships are helping Netflix expand its offering in Europe and Latin America, India shows why the streamer is unlikely to retreat from investing in local originals.
    — Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of retreat
Verb
  • Enamel is created while teeth are still developing under the gums, and the cells that produce it, known as ameloblasts, break down and vanish once a tooth erupts.
    — Ryan Brennan, Sacbee.com, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Stocks of Wi-Fi routers, insulin pumps, pacemakers, and credit-card readers, along with cars and dishwashers, would dwindle and perhaps vanish.
    — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of vanish
Verb
  • Multiple flying insects throughout entire food service space.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Matthew Golden and Christian Watson can fly, and playing indoors gives them a chance to show it.
    — Dan Zaksheske OutKick, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of fly
Verb
  • That terrible scenario that doesn't easily fade definitely caused everyone to believe Quinn was at it again on Monday night – messing up again, forgetting that the last play was fourth down instead of third down.
    — Armando Salguero OutKick, FOXNews.com, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Yet, in the urban South, recent linguistic research finds that the drawl’s most salient features are starting to fade on the lips of young speakers.
    — Valerie M. Fridland, The Conversation, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of fade
Verb
  • In From Day One As countries build generation-defining infrastructure—road and rail tunnels, smart stadiums and hospital precincts—connectivity is too often bolted on late in construction.
    — Stephen Farrugia, Forbes.com, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Captured on video surveillance cameras, the three thieves were seen grabbing hundreds of trading cards and bolting from the shop in less than 10 minutes.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of bolt
Verb
  • Cybersecurity experts told Fortune that unpatched systems could let hackers run code remotely, which puts websites and sensitive data at risk.
    — Diane Brady, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2026
  • At the racetrack, the horses ran, and Crawford hosted members at the Ruidoso Jockey Club, where private tables cost as much as six figures.
    — Abe Streep, ProPublica, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of run

Browse Nearby Words

fledglings
flee
fleece
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Flee.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flee. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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