fugitive
One evading capture
A fugitive is someone who has fled, especially from law enforcement or legal custody: The fugitive was captured after three weeks on the run.
The word extends to anything fleeting or hard to capture—a fugitive thought, a fugitive glimpse.
As an adjective, fugitive describes what escapes or evades: fugitive emissions are gases that leak unintentionally from industrial equipment.
One who flees
- absconderOne who flees secretly
- escapeFlight from captivity
- fledEscaped from danger
- deserterOne who abandons duty
defector · evader · asylum · sanctuary · exile · hideout · safehouse · underground
Passing very quickly
- transientTemporary, soon departing
- ephemeralLasting very briefly
- evasiveAvoiding direct response
- slipperyLacking friction, hard-to-grasp
vanishing · ghostlike · shadowy · untraceable · elusive · momentary · passing · brief
Act of chasing something
- chaseRapid following of quarry
- dragnetUnderwater haul net
- bountyReward for capture
- trackerOne who follows trails
wanted · marshals · apprehend · capture · investigation · surveillance · stakeout · undercover
Aimless, rootless traveler
- vagabondHomeless, aimless wanderer
- nomadHomeless wanderer by choice
- itinerantMoving for work
- transientTemporary, soon departing
rootless · homeless · displaced · stateless · migrant · roaming · restless · unsettled
Person who breaks laws
- banditArmed roadside thief
- felonSerious crime perpetrator
- desperadoBold, reckless outlaw
- gangsterCriminal organization member
highwayman · bootlegger · smuggler · pirate · notorious · lawbreaker · hideout · alias
runaway
One who flees
deserter · defector · evader · asylum · sanctuary · exile · hideout · safehouse · underground · wanted
fleeting
Passing very quickly
slippery · vanishing · ghostlike · shadowy · untraceable · elusive · momentary · passing · brief · impermanent
pursuit
Act of chasing something
tracker · wanted · marshals · apprehend · capture · investigation · surveillance · stakeout · undercover · informant
drifter
Aimless, rootless traveler
transient · rootless · homeless · displaced · stateless · migrant · roaming · restless · unsettled · adrift
criminal
Person who breaks laws
gangster · highwayman · bootlegger · smuggler · pirate · notorious · lawbreaker · hideout · alias · bushranger
- crime investigationdetective, whodunit, investigation, detectives, investigator
- Dystopia1984, Nineteen Eighty-Four, dystopian fiction, totalitarianism, Brave New World
- mystery fictionwhodunit, whodunnit, sleuth, murder mystery, detective novel
- crime newscrime scene, court reporter, court reporting, breaking news, arrest report
- sheriffssheriff, deputy, deputy sheriff, county sheriff, sheriff's office
- fugitivesescapee, escaped convict, runaway, prison escapee, absconder
fugitivecaptive
One held by force
prisoner · inmate · detainee · surrendered · apprehended
fugitivepermanent
Fixed without end
lasting · enduring · eternal · everlasting · perpetual
fugitiveaccessible
Able to be reached
obtainable · attainable · available · reachable · approachable
- fugitive slaveEscaped person from bondage
- The FugitivePerson fleeing the law
- fugitive slave lawsMandated return of escapees
- fugitive from justiceOne evading lawful capture
- harboring fugitivesHiding persons from law
- Fugitive Slave ActLaw mandating escapee return