English Dictionary

Definition of “abscond

abscond (əbˈskɒndPronunciation for abscond

Definitions

verb

  1. (intr) to run away secretly, esp from an open institution or to avoid prosecution or punishment

Alternative Forms

abˈsconder noun

Word Origin

C16: from Latin abscondere  to hide, put away, from abs- ab-C16: from Latin to hide, put away, from 1 + to stow + condere to stow

Synonyms

View thesaurus entry
= escape, flee, get away, bolt, fly, disappear, skip, run off, slip away, clear out, flit, make off, break free or out decamp, hook it, do a runner, steal away, sneak away do a bunk fly the coop, skedaddle, take a powder, go on the lam make your getaway do a Skase, make or effect your escape

Quotations

  • "abscond: to `move in a mysterious way', commonly with the property of another" Ambrose Bierce

Usage examples

  • Rather than get serious about investment in new technologies, Western brand managers abscond by taking the frivolous tangents of play.
    Spiked (2004)
  • Two days after his release, the state again applied for his detention alleging that he might commit another crime or abscond.
    SA Star (2005)
  • They could become exhausted, abscond or be killed by peregrines.
    Belfast Telegraph (2004)
  • He was not to know that Faige would abscond , that his letters would never be delivered, that the French vessels would never arrive.
    Paul Hyland, RALEGH'S LAST JOURNEY: A Tale of Madness, Vanity and Treachery (2003)

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