Standard Lemma guide

escapism

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ɪˈskeɪpɪzəm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: IH0 S K EY1 P IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An inclination to escape from routine or reality into fantasy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A genre of book, film etc. that one uses to indulge this tendency.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The performance of an escape artist.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

an inclination to retreat from unpleasant realities through diversion or fantasy

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • romantic novels were her escape from the stress of daily life
  • his alcohol problem was a form of escapism

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: escape

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: diversion, recreation

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English escape Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English escapism From escape + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: هُرُوب مِن الوَاقِعِ (hurūb min al-wāqiʕi) — inclination to escape
  • Arabic: تَهْرُبِيَّة (tahrubiyya) — inclination to escape
  • Bulgarian: ескапизъм (eskapizǎm) — inclination to escape
  • Catalan: escapisme — inclination to escape
  • Danish: eskapisme — inclination to escape
  • Finnish: todellisuuspakoisuus — inclination to escape
  • Finnish: eskapismi — inclination to escape
  • French: escapisme — inclination to escape
  • German: Eskapismus — inclination to escape
  • German: Wirklichkeitsflucht — inclination to escape
  • German: Realitätsflucht — inclination to escape
  • German: Entfliehung aus dem Alltag — inclination to escape
  • German: Flucht aus der Wirklichkeit — inclination to escape
  • Hungarian: eszképizmus — inclination to escape
  • Hungarian: menekülés a nyomasztó valóság elől — inclination to escape
  • Japanese: 現実逃避 (genjitsu tōhi) — inclination to escape
  • Macedonian: ескепизам (eskepizam) — inclination to escape
  • Maltese: Eskejpizmu — inclination to escape
  • Occitan: escapisme — inclination to escape
  • Polish: eskapizm — inclination to escape
  • Portuguese: escapismo — inclination to escape
  • Punjabi: ਭਾਂਜਵਾਦ (bhāñjvād) — inclination to escape
  • Russian: эскапизм (eskapizm) — inclination to escape
  • Serbo-Croatian: eskapizam — inclination to escape
  • Spanish: escapismo — inclination to escape
  • Swedish: eskapism — inclination to escape
  • Turkish: gerçeklerden kaçma — inclination to escape
  • Ukrainian: ескапізм (eskapizm) — inclination to escape
  • Finnish: eskapismi — genre