Fugitive Meaning
/ˈfjuːd͡ʒɪtɪv/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA person who flees or escapes and travels secretly from place to place, and sometimes using disguises and aliases to conceal their identity, as to avoid law authorities in order to avoid an arrest or prosecution, or to avoid some other unwanted situation.
adjFleeing or running away; escaping.
Sentence Examples
I was on the alert for a fugitive criminal.
The fugitive surfaced in a small town fifty miles from here but then disappeared again.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The police searched for the escaped prisoner, who was a dangerous ____ on the run.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The police launched a massive manhunt to capture the ____ who had escaped from the prison earlier that day.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English fugitive, fugityve, fugityf, fugitife, fugytif, fugitif, from Latin fugitīvus.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"“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—!”"
— 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
"I found afterwards that he was the chauffeur, who filled the gaps left by a succession of fugitive butlers."
— 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
"Her son Thomas was fugitived in the persecution."
— 1864, J. B. Greenshields, Annals of the Parish of Lesmahagow, page 116:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The police searched for the escaped prisoner, who was a dangerous ____ on the run.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The police launched a massive manhunt to capture the ____ who had escaped from the prison earlier that day.