fugitive

English

Etymology

From Middle English fugitive, fugityve, fugityf, fugitife, fugytif, fugitif, from Latin fugitīvus.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈfjuːd͡ʒɪtɪv/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: fu‧gi‧tive

Noun

fugitive (plural fugitives)

  1. A person who flees or escapes and travels secretly from place to place, and sometimes using disguises and aliases to conceal his/her identity, as to avoid law authorities in order to avoid an arrest or prosecution; or to avoid some other unwanted situation.
    • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:
      “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, [] the speed-mad fugitives from the furies of ennui, the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosis, the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!”

Synonyms

Translations

Adjective

fugitive (comparative more fugitive, superlative most fugitive)

  1. Fleeing or running away; escaping.
    • 1912, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World:
      I found afterwards that he was the chauffeur, who filled the gaps left by a succession of fugitive butlers.
  2. Transient, fleeting or ephemeral.
  3. Elusive or difficult to retain.

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fy.ʒi.tiv/
  • Rhymes: -iv
  • Homophone: fugitives

Noun

fugitive f (plural fugitives, masculine fugitif)

  1. female equivalent of fugitif; a female fugitive

Further reading


Latin

Adjective

fugitīve

  1. vocative masculine singular of fugitīvus
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