Escapism

//ɪˈskeɪpɪzəm// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An inclination to escape from routine or reality into fantasy. countable, uncountable

    "“If you look at literature on why people watch reality TV, that’s one of the main reasons: escapism,” said Danielle J. Lindemann, the author of “True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us.”"

  2. 2
    an inclination to retreat from unpleasant realities through diversion or fantasy wordnet
  3. 3
    A genre of book, film etc. that one uses to indulge this tendency. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    The performance of an escape artist. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
escapealienationautismautistic thinkingavoidance mechanismblame-shifting

Example

More examples

"Tom reads science fiction as a form of escapism."

Etymology

From escape + -ism.

Related phrases

escape artist

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.