fugitive.

1. Someone who is fleeing or hiding to avoid capture, arrest, or punishment.

2. Lasting only briefly or difficult to hold onto.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• escaped fugitive
• shelter a fugitive

On the page

The fugitive changed routes whenever the road approached a town.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Noun singular fugitive, plural fugitives; fleeing use also adjective. Fleeting adjective sense: more fugitive, most fugitive where natural. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common.