as in to flee
to hasten away from something dangerous or frightening
when a fight broke out, we hightailed it out of the bar
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hightail (it)
Verb
-
The president flees these tradeoffs as a matter of course and flip-flops unpredictably when pressures rise.—
Edward Lotterman,
Twin Cities,
8 Feb. 2026 -
During one game, Graham felt the pass rush and fled the pocket; Brown had ordered him to stay in it, no matter what.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
8 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Illinois lawmakers recently flirted with a tax on unrealized gains—think of stocks yet to be sold at fluctuating prices that only exist on paper—before retreating.—
Veronique De Rugy,
Oc Register,
5 Feb. 2026
-
Jackson was disinvited from the Grammy Awards telecast the following week and largely retreated from the public spotlight, while Timberlake’s career continued uninterrupted.—
Dallas Morning News,
Dallas Morning News,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Carney ordered government buildings to fly flags at half-mast for the next week.—
Claire Carter,
The Washington Examiner,
12 Feb. 2026
-
Two airline sources said that airlines were given the impression that the closure was done out of an abundance of caution due to the FAA's inability to predict where drones might be flying.—
Brian Dakss,
CBS News,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
The high-stakes move is aimed at stopping a half-dozen suburbs from bolting from the Dallas Area Rapid Transit.—
Dallas Morning News,
Dallas Morning News,
11 Feb. 2026
-
That moved a number of boaters to bolt to other harbors, including Waukegan, where one official said the Waukegan Port District marina was gaining slip holders with North Point in flux.—
Charles Selle,
Chicago Tribune,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Cisco says the platform is built to support massive AI clusters running training, inference, and real-time agentic workloads while improving efficiency and lowering operating costs.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
11 Feb. 2026
-
In September, the preliminary revision inferred that the US economy likely added about 911,000 fewer jobs than the jobs reports initially estimated for the 12-month period running from April 2024 through March 2025.—
Alicia Wallace,
CNN Money,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
There were no sitters within that catalogue of misses — nothing toe-curling or likely to do a million views on YouTube — but his profligacy allowed Dortmund to escape with a 2-1 win.—
Sebastian Stafford-Bloor,
New York Times,
9 Feb. 2026
-
To escape Earth’s energy crunch, SpaceX is taking AI to orbit, where near-constant solar energy replaces Earth’s strained power grids.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and run away without firing a shot.—
DAVID FISCHER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS,
Arkansas Online,
5 Feb. 2026
-
Surveillance footage obtained during an investigation by Lakewood Police captured the two running away to a nearby building as the flames grew, then ultimately using public transportation to leave the premises.—
Angel Saunders,
PEOPLE,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Phosphate fertilizer that runs off farm fields is a wonder food for algae.—
Theodore J. Karamanski,
Chicago Tribune,
6 Feb. 2026
-
Lofton’s foster father drove him to a mental health provider, but the teen ran off.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Feb. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Hightail (it).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hightail%20%28it%29. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
