fugitive

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfjuːd͡ʒɪtɪv/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (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 their 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:

     “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

• abscotchalater (archaic)
• nomad
• wanderer
• runaway

Derived terms

• fugitive emission
• fugitively
• fugitiveness
• fugitivism
• fugitivity

 

Translations

a person who is fleeing or escaping from something

• Afrikaans: vlugteling
• Albanian: arratisur (sq) m
• Arabic: هَارِب m (hārib), هَارِبَة f (hāriba)
• Armenian: փախստական (hy) (pʻaxstakan)
• Aromanian: fugar m
• Azerbaijani: qaçaq, fərari (az), qaçqın (az)
• Belarusian: уцяка́ч m (ucjakáč), уцяка́чка f (ucjakáčka), бягле́ц m (bjahljéc), бягля́к m (bjahlják), бягля́чка f (bjahljáčka)
• Bulgarian: бегле́ц (bg) m (begléc)
• Catalan: fugitiu (ca) m, pròfug m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 逃亡者 (zh) (táowángzhě), 逃犯 (zh) (táofàn)

• Czech: uprchlík (cs) m, uprchlice (cs) f, utečenec (cs) m, utečenka f
• Danish: flygtning (da) c
• Dutch: vluchteling (nl) m, vluchtelinge (nl) f, voortvluchtige (nl) m or f
• Egyptian: (wꜥr m)
• Estonian: põgeneja, jooksik
• Finnish: karkulainen (fi), pakolainen (fi)
• French: fugitif (fr) m, fugitive (fr) f
• Galician: fuxitivo m
• Georgian: გაქცეული (gakceuli), ლტოლვილი (lṭolvili)
• German: Flüchtling (de) m
• Greek: φυγάς (el) m (fygás), φυγάς (el) f (fygás)

  Ancient: φυγάς m or f (phugás)

• Hebrew: מבוקש, עבריין נמלט
• Hindi: भगोड़ा (hi) m (bhagoṛā), भग्गू (hi) m (bhaggū)
• Hungarian: szökevény (hu)
• Indonesian: buronan (id)
• Italian: latitante (it) m or f
• Japanese: 逃亡者 (ja) (とうぼうしゃ, tōbōsha)
• Kannada: ತಲೆತಪ್ಪಿಸಿಕೊಂಡವನು (kn) (taletappisikoṇḍavanu)
• Kazakh: қашқын (qaşqyn), қашақ (qaşaq)
• Korean: 도망자(逃亡者) (domangja)
• Kyrgyz: качкын (ky) (kackın)
• Latin: fugitīvus m
• Latvian: bēglis (lv) m
• Lithuanian: pabėgėlis m
• Macedonian: бегалец m (begalec), бегалка f (begalka)
• Maori: taurewa, rerenga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rømling m

• Old English: flīema m
• Pashto: پراري m or f (parārí)
• Persian: فراری (fa) (farâri)
• Polish: uciekinier (pl) m, uciekinierka f, zbieg (pl) m
• Portuguese: fugitivo m, foragido (pt) m
• Romanian: fugar (ro) m, fugară (ro) f, evadat (ro) m, evadată f
• Russian: бегле́ц (ru) m (begléc), бегля́нка (ru) f (begljánka)
• Scottish Gaelic: fògarrach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бегу́нац m, бегуница f, бегунка f

  Roman: begúnac (sh) m, begunica (sh) f, begunka f

• Slovak: utečenec m, utečenkyňa f, utečenka f
• Slovene: ubežnik (sl) m, ubežnica f
• Southern Altai: качкын (kačkïn)
• Spanish: fugitivo (es) m, prófugo
• Swedish: flykting (sv) c
• Tagalog: pugante
• Tajik: фирорӣ (firori)
• Telugu: పలాయితుడు (te) (palāyituḍu)
• Turkish: firari (tr), kaçak (tr)
• Turkmen: gaçgak
• Ukrainian: утіка́ч m (utikáč), утіка́чка f (utikáčka), втіка́ч m (vtikáč), втіка́чка f (vtikáčka)
• Urdu: مفرور m (mafrūr)
• Uyghur: قاچقۇن (qachqun)
• Uzbek: qochqin (uz), qochoq (uz)
• Vietnamese: người lánh nạn
• Welsh: ffoadur m

Adjective

fugitive (comparative more fugitive, superlative most fugitive)

1. Fleeing or running away; escaping.
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     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.

Related terms

• fugitive disentitlement
• fugitive dust
• fugitive from justice
• fugitive pigment

 

Translations

fleeing or running away

• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: هربان (harbān)

• Armenian: փախստական (hy) (pʻaxstakan)
• Bashkir: ҡасҡын (qasqın)
• Bulgarian: бегъл (bg) (begǎl)
• Catalan: fugitiu (ca)
• Danish: flygtig
• Dutch: voortvluchtig (nl), voortvluchtige (nl)
• Finnish: karkuri (fi), karkulainen (fi)
• Galician: fuxitivo
• German: flüchtig (de)
• Italian: latitante (it) m or f
• Latin: fugitīvus
• Maori: taurewa
• Norwegian: flyktig
• Persian: گریزان (fa) (gorizân)
• Portuguese: fugitivo, foragido (pt)
• Romanian: fugitiv (ro), fugar (ro), trecător (ro)
• Russian: бе́глый (ru) (béglyj)
• Spanish: fugitivo (es)
• Turkish: firari (tr)

transient, fleeting or ephemeral

• Bulgarian: преходен (bg) (prehoden), кракотраен (krakotraen)
• Danish: flygtig
• Dutch: voorbijgaand (nl)
• Finnish: hetkellinen (fi)
• French: éphémère (fr) m or f
• German: flüchtig (de), vorübergehend (de), kurzlebig (de)
• Norwegian: diffus (no)
• Portuguese: efêmero (pt)
• Russian: мимолётный (ru) (mimoljótnyj), скороте́чный (ru) (skorotéčnyj), преходя́щий (ru) (prexodjáščij)
• Spanish: fugaz (es)
• Turkish: geçici (tr), gelip geçici (tr), kalımsız (tr)

elusive or difficult to retain

• Bulgarian: бегъл (bg) (begǎl)
• Dutch: vluchtig (nl)
• Finnish: pysymätön, saavuttamaton
• French: fuyant (fr) m
• German: flüchtig (de)
• Norwegian: diffus (no)
• Polish: ulotny (pl) m
• Portuguese: esquivo (pt)

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

Translations to be checked

• German: ^{(please verify)} flüchtig (de)
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} fugitivus

Verb

fugitive (third-person singular simple present fugitives, present participle fugitiving, simple past and past participle fugitived)

1. (transitive) To render someone a fugitive; to drive into escape or exile.
   • 1864, J. B. Greenshields, Annals of the Parish of Lesmahagow, page 116:

     Her son Thomas was fugitived in the persecution.

French

Pronunciation

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

Noun

fugitive f (plural fugitives)

1. female equivalent of fugitif; a female fugitive

Further reading

• “fugitive”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Adjective

fugitīve

1. vocative masculine singular of fugitīvus