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# abscond

«abscond» in Mova's school dictionary: **to leave secretly and suddenly, especially to escape from…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

verb (abscond, absconds, absconded, absconding)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (formal) To abscond means to leave secretly and suddenly, especially to escape from somewhere or to avoid being caught. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abscond/#m1)

2) To abscond with something means to run away with money or things that are not yours. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abscond/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In news and police reports, prisoners or thieves abscond; a treasurer may abscond with club funds. In stories, it is a dramatic, formal word for running off. In everyday talk, children say «run off» or «do a runner» (UK informal). Phrases: «abscond with», «abscond from».

### examples

- The thief absconded with the cash box. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abscond/#x1)
- Two prisoners absconded from the open prison. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abscond/#x2)
- The club treasurer absconded with all the money. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abscond/#x3)
- (jokey) Our dog absconded with the Sunday roast. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abscond/#x4)
- The man absconded before the police arrived. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abscond/#x5)
- The puppy absconded with my sock. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abscond/#x6)

### note

Regular verb: absconded. Formal and serious; often used jokingly about pets and small thefts. Say «ab-SKOND».

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «abscond» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abscond/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.