fugitive

English

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰewg-der.
Proto-Italic *fugjō
Latin fugiō
Proto-Indo-European *-tós
Proto-Italic *-tos
Latin -tus
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.
Proto-Italic *-ājō
Proto-Italic *-āō
Latin -ō
Latin -tō
Latin fugitō
Proto-Indo-European *-wós
Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder.
Latin -īvus
Latin fugitīvusder.
Middle English fugitive
English fugitive

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

    Pronunciation

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

    Noun

    fugitive (plural fugitives)

    1. A person who flees from law enforcement, typically to avoid being arrested, prosecuted, or imprisoned.
    2. (now uncommon) A person who flees to escape persecution, danger (war, etc), or any 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—!”
    3. (now rare) Something fleeting; something hard to catch and detain.
      • 1854 [original: 1690?], John Evelyn, Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn (ed. William Bray), page 316:
        […] you would not exchange your inward consolation, for the return of all those external fugitives you once enjoyed, […]
      • 1767?, Walter Harte, "The Vision of Death", in The Amaranth, or Religious Poems, quoted in (e.g.) 1807, The New Encyclopaedia, page 142:
        What muse but his can Nature's beauties hit, Or catch that airy fugitive, call'd wit.
      • 1846/1847, Ralph Waldo Emerson, poem in The Harbinger: Devoted to Social and Political Progress, page 107:
        Thou eternal fugitive, Hovering over all that live, Quick and skilful to inspire Sweet, extravagant desire, Starry place and lily-bell Filling with thy roseate smell, Wilt not give the lips to taste Of the nectar that thou hast […]

    Coordinate terms

    Derived terms

    Translations

    Adjective

    fugitive (comparative more fugitive, superlative most fugitive)

    1. Fleeing or running away; escaping.
    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.
    Translations to be checked

    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

    Latin

    Adjective

    fugitīve

    1. vocative masculine singular of fugitīvus
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