Fugitives

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Persons who evade arrest or legal consequences by escaping
2. Individuals who are on the run from law enforcement or justice systems due to illicit activities
3. People who escape to avoid being caught or punished by authorities

Etymology: The plural of "fugitive", "fugitives" simply adds the English plural ending to a word that arrived in Middle English from Latin "fugitivus", meaning "fleeing" or "runaway". That Latin adjective was built from "fugitus", the frequentative of "fugere", "to flee", which is the same verb behind "fugitive" and "refuge". In Latin, the adjective was used of slaves who had run away from their masters, and the sense of someone escaping pursuit or punishment carried over into English. The English word appeared in Middle English in forms such as "fugityve" and "fugitif", reflecting the varying spellings of the time before the modern form settled. Its legal sense of someone fleeing the law came to dominate the word, so "fugitives" today most often refers to those who have escaped capture by the authorities.

Synonyms: runaways, escapees, refugees

Antonyms: captives, prisoners