What does getaway mean?
In everyday English, a getaway is most often a short trip taken to escape ordinary routine, though it can also denote an escape from confinement, danger, or an awkward situation. The holiday sense is generally neutral and often suggests a relatively brief break; the escape sense may imply haste, danger, or evasion. Getaways are countable, and related expressions use the word attributively for a car or other vehicle intended for rapid departure. Although the compound is transparent—get plus away—its uses are more varied than the phrase might suggest. A getaway might be a weekend trip, a moment of privacy, a prison escape, or the successful flight of a fugitive. Understanding both senses helps explain why the word appears in travel, news, crime reporting, and ordinary conversation, and why a phrase such as “the perfect getaway” can describe either an escape or a satisfying break away from routine.
nounAn escape from a place, confinement, danger, or a difficult situation; also a short trip or holiday taken away from one's usual surroundings or routine.
- An escape or flight from a place, confinement, danger, or a difficult situation.
- A short trip or holiday away from one's home or ordinary routine.
"They planned a weekend getaway to the coast."
"The burglars escaped in a getaway car."
"We booked a small cottage for a weekend getaway."
Getaway is a countable noun. Use “a getaway” for one escape or trip and “getaways” for multiple instances.
"The resort offers several short getaways for couples."
A getaway can be a hurried escape, a brief escape from routine, or a holiday devoted to doing absolutely nothing.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does getaway come from?
Getaway is an English compound formed from get and away, both of which continue Old English words. It arose in the early nineteenth century for an act of departing or escaping, and the now-common sense of a short holiday developed subsequently. The ultimate Germanic ancestry of get links it to cognates such as forget, although getaway itself is a transparent English formation rather than an inherited cognate.
How getaway is actually used
The noun is neutral to informal in the holiday sense and commonly countable. In the escape sense, it may suggest haste, danger, evasion, or the circumstances of a criminal flight. The word is used similarly in British and American English.
Easily confused with getaway
As one word, getaway is a noun naming an escape or short trip; as two words, get away is a phrasal verb meaning to leave or escape.