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Glite Dictionary
escaper

escaper

5.1
A person or animal that gets away from a place where they were kept
  • noun
  • /ɪˈskeɪpər/
translation icon : fugitivo
  • The clever escaper used a hidden tunnel to escape from captivity.

Examples

  • After months of planning, the escaper finally found a way to break out of the old prison.

  • Hence his tribute, in volume 3 of The Gulag Archipelago, to "the committed escapers" and to those who took part in camp revolts.

    Academic text (1998)

  • I am the expert escaper round here.

    Borstal Boy (2001)

  • And you're a terrible escaper!

    Ballerina (2016)

  • An escaper!

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Kalish passed him by to gaze once again at the artist who called himself Moses the Escaper.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • As soon as they catch up with one of the escapers—and they will—the hawks will want to move.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • During the game, each escaper needed to solve puzzles to find their way out.

Synonyms

runaway
vsescaper
77 3.9

A person who leaves home secretly to escape problems

is about getting free from being confined or trapped, not secret departure
escapee
vsescaper
23 4.5

A person who escaped from prison or another place where people are kept

is broader, covering animals and people who leave confined or trapped places

Antonyms

captive
57 4.6

A person or animal kept as a prisoner and not free

How Free

freeperson
  • Archaic
9.3
fugitive
213 6.6
escaper
5.1
prisoner
∞ 1.1

Surface Forms

escaper singular
escapers plural

Morphology

escaper = escape (transparent) = escape + er

Standard agent nominalization: adding -er to the verb 'escape' yields 'a person who escapes', which is directly predictable.

Etymology

The word escaper comes from the verb escape, built from ex- meaning 'out' (like exit) and a verb part meaning 'to get away'. The -er ending means 'one who', so an escaper is 'one who gets out'.