skip town

verb

To abscond from one's place of residence suddenly, without warning.

“The suspect skipped town when he found out the police were going to raid his apartment.”

Similar
take a powder
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Meanings

verbskip town (third-person singular simple present skips town, present participle skipping town, simple past and past participle skipped town)

present singular third person skips town · participle present skipping town · participle past skipped town · past skipped town

  1. informalTo abscond from one's place of residence suddenly, without warning.

    The suspect skipped town when he found out the police were going to raid his apartment.

    1 more example

    We have just seen a feckless House of Representatives pass a ludicrous impeachment of a Cabinet secretary by one vote—and then skip town while avoiding a vote on aid to Ukraine.

    2024 February 20, Eliot A. Cohen, “Solzhenitsyn’s Warning”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 21 Feb 2024

Synonyms & antonyms

verbdisappear without notifying anyone (idiom)

Similar
take a powder
Broader
disappearvanishgo away
Also see
take a powder

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 跑路, 跑掉
  • 跑路 (pǎolù)abscond from one's place of residence suddenly
  • 跑掉 (pǎodiào)abscond from one's place of residence suddenly
  • 潛逃 /潜逃 (qiántáo)abscond from one's place of residence suddenly
  • 逃匿 (táonì)abscond from one's place of residence suddenly
Finnish vaihtaa maisemaa
  • vaihtaa maisemaaabscond from one's place of residence suddenly
German das Weite suchen, die Kurve kratzen
  • das Weite suchenabscond from one's place of residence suddenly
  • die Kurve kratzenabscond from one's place of residence suddenly
  • sich aus dem Staub machenabscond from one's place of residence suddenly
  • von der Bildfläche verschwindenabscond from one's place of residence suddenly
Cite this entry
APA

skip town. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/skip%20town

MLA

“skip town.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/skip%20town. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “skip town,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/skip%20town.

Source: skip town on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.