as in to flee
to hasten away from something dangerous or frightening
we skedaddled as soon as we saw the snake entering our campsite
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Recent Examples of skedaddle
Many politicians with ambitions for higher office arrive at events, are introduced, wave, shake a few hands and skedaddled to the next block on the schedule.
—
Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 19 July 2025
But not on this episode, because Abby and the gang were already skedaddling back to Seattle.
—Tom Gliatto, People.com, 21 Apr. 2025
The Nazis took the bait, hook, line and sinker, and skedaddled to Sardinia, smoothing the way for the Allies to take Sicily, a major turning point in World War II.
—Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 21 Mar. 2025
The Nazis took the bait, hook, line and sinker, and skedaddled to Sardinia, smoothing the way for the Allies to take Sicily and marking a major turning point in World War II.
—Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 21 Mar. 2025
The sun's peeping out, and the budding journalists skedaddle outside, where their friends are just arriving.
—Lauren Migaki, NPR, 22 Feb. 2025
The Confederates saw the score and promptly skedaddled.
—Scott Spillman, The New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2025
Under the deal passed just as Congress skedaddled from Washington before the end of the year, the ceiling will be exceeded sometime between January 14 and January 23.
—Peter Green, Quartz, 4 Jan. 2025
Among the five Lab rats are two bosses: onscreen personality Edna (Chloë Sevigny) and Dave (Simon Rex), her partner in business and life, who soon skedaddles back to the States to deal with some legal matters that everyone but Edna is aware of.
—Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for skedaddle
Verb
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No one was injured, and the suspects fled before deputies arrived.—
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Other offenses include fleeing from police, escaping from the Northeast Regional Corrections Center, theft, trespassing and giving police a false name.—
Verb
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Despite being wounded, Sosa-Celis and the other two men retreated into the apartment and barricaded themselves inside.—
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Adolfsson and Stefan, who works as a substitute teacher, plan their grocery shopping trips to the mainland carefully, stocking up before retreating indoors.—
Verb
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The new system could replace the Stinger missile, which can engage low-flying aircraft such as helicopters, jets during takeoff or landing, and some drones.—
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With that possibility in mind, NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, agreed to fly one NASA astronaut aboard each Soyuz and one Russian cosmonaut aboard each Crew Dragon.—
Verb
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If anything, Lane Kiffin’s decision to bolt for LSU seemed to harden Ole Miss’ resolve, pushing the Rebels to the best season in school history — and within a game of their first national championship game.—
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If anything, Lane Kiffin’s decision to bolt for LSU seemed to harden Mississippi’s resolve, pushing the Rebels to the best season in school history — and within a game of their first national championship game.—
Verb
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The woman running the daycare had attempted life-saving measures on the child before emergency services arrived, First Alert 4 reported.—
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Kaelon Black ran for two touchdowns to lead the Indiana running game.—
Verb
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Austin Abrams stars as a scuba diver who, while searching for his father’s (Josh Brolin) body, gets swallowed and must find a way to escape.—
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Set in 1977, during Brazil’s military dictatorship, the thriller details Armando and his son in their efforts to escape the country in the midst of political turmoil.—
Cite this Entry
“Skedaddle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/skedaddle. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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