What Is The Past Tense For Flee?
The past tense of flee is fled. Like the verb run, flee is an irregular verb, so its past tense and past participle are not formed by simply adding “-ed” to the base form.
Instead, to get the past tense and the past participle of flee, you need to omit one letter -e and add the letter -d at the end of the base form.
You can check out the table below about other verb forms of flee:
| Base/Infinitive Form (V1) | flee |
| Present Form/3rd Person/Singular Form | flees |
| Past Form (V2) | fled |
| Past Participle Form (V3) | fled |
| Present Participle/Gerund | fleeing |
How To Pronounce “Flee” And “Fled” Properly?
The verb flee is pronounced as /fliː/, and fled is /fled/ in both British and American English. You can refer to the table below for more details.
| Verb Forms | Pronunciation | |
| British English language | American English language | |
| flee | /fliː/ | /fliː/ |
| fled | /fled/ | /fled/ |
| fled | /fled/ | /fled/ |
| fleeing | /ˈfliːɪŋ/ | /ˈfliːɪŋ/ |
How to say “flee” and “fled” like native speakers? You can watch the videos below:
Flee pronunciation:
Fled pronunciation:
What Are The Definitions Of The Verb Flee? How To Use Fled?
We use fled to describe actions or events that have already happened in the past. The past tense of flee has the same definition as its V1 form, and it is used to indicate that an action or state was completed, finished, or no longer ongoing.
The verb “flee” means to run away or escape from a dangerous or unpleasant situation. Here are some examples of how “flee” can be used with different meanings:
- To escape from danger or a threat
Example: The people fled the burning building as soon as the fire sparked off.
Example: When the building caught fire, the people inside fled in panic, grateful to escape unharmed.
- To leave a place quickly or hurriedly
Example: The tourists fled the hotel after hearing about the impending storm.
Example: After the meeting ended, I fled the room to avoid getting caught in a conversation with my boss.
- To run away from someone or something out of fear or panic:
Example: The rabbit fled from the approaching fox as fast as possible.
Example: When he saw the grizzly bear charging towards him, he fled in terror, desperately seeking a place to hide.
- To avoid something unpleasant or uncomfortable:
Example: She fled from the room when the conversation turned to politics.
Example: As soon as he saw his ex-girlfriend at the party, he fled the scene, not wanting to deal with the awkwardness of seeing her again.
- To move quickly away from a situation or a place to avoid it:
Example: The young man fled the city and started a new life in the countryside.
Example: The group of hikers fled the area when they saw the dark clouds rolling in, not wanting to get caught in a storm in the middle of the mountains.
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What Are The Synonyms And Antonyms Of The Verb Flee?
Some common synonyms of the verb flee are: Escape, run away, retreat, abscond, bolt, depart, evade, avoid, elude, fly, scramble, skedaddle, vamoose, withdraw, and take flight.
The antonyms of the verb flee are: Advance, approach, confront, face, meet, stand, stay, and come.
What Are The Idioms Of The Verb Flee?
- Flee for your life: to run away as fast as possible to save oneself from danger.
Example: When the lion roared, we all fled for our lives.
- Flee in terror: to run away in fear or panic.
Example: The villagers fled in terror when the earthquake hit.
- Flee the scene: to leave a place quickly, often because of some wrongdoing or accident.
Example: The driver fled the accident scene, leaving behind a damaged car.
- Flee from justice: to run away to avoid being punished for a crime.
Example: The suspect fled from justice, but he was eventually caught and brought to trial.
See the past tense of caught here.
- Flee from reality: to escape from the truth or a difficult situation.
Example: Sometimes, people turn to drugs or alcohol to flee from reality and forget their problems.
- Flee from temptation: to avoid tempting things that may be harmful.
Example: To avoid overeating, she had to flee from the temptation of the dessert table.
Is Flee A Transitive Or Intransitive Verb?
The verb “flee” can be both transitive and intransitive, depending on how it is used in a sentence.
When “flee” is used intransitively, it means to run away from danger or something frightening.
Example: The rabbit fled from the fox.
When “flee” is used transitively, it means to run away from a specific person, place, or thing.
Example: The robbers fled the scene of the crime.
His name is Benjamin Essek – The founder of Grammar Wiki. He is an English native speaker and has joined many English classes, learning communities to support other people with this common language as well.