escapist

American  

[ih-skey-pist] / ɪˈskeɪ pɪst /

noun

1. a person who avoids reality by becoming absorbed in entertainment or fantasy.

   I, for one, am an escapist, so pondering whether an anime series is "looking out into the world" isn't something I concern myself with.

2. a person who tries or manages to get out of captivity; an escape artist or escapee.

   In 1864, the celebrated prison escapist Hamilton tunneled his way to freedom with 60 other captured Union officers.

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adjective

1. avoiding reality through entertainment or fantasy, or enabling people to do so.

   His childhood taste for cowboy adventures and escapist films like Tarzan gave way to an admiration for realist European directors.

Etymology

Origin of escapist

escap(e) ( def. ) + -ist ( def. )

Explanation

An escapist is someone who doesn't live in the real world, but dreams, wishes, and fantasizes instead. If you're an escapist, you might avoid thinking about unpleasant things by playing video games for hours. Some escapists can withdraw into their own heads, distracting themselves with daydreams. Other escapists retreat from the world into movies, television, books, games, alcohol, or even exercise. The goal for an escapist is to escape the difficulties of life and their own feelings through these diversions. Escapist and escape are rooted in the Vulgar Latin excappare, literally "leave a pursuer with only one's cape."

Example Sentences

To allay concerns that books can’t compete with the allure of digital devices, he offers a simple observation: Reading is as addictive as videogames were in his youth, “mind-altering, escapist, and fun.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 1, 2026

What it says about America: A country facing deindustrialization and stagflation turned toward escapist glamour and pop songs that fused funk, soul and R&B—and got people on the dance floor.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 1, 2026

Enjoy the escapist refreshment, is what she's saying.

From Salon • May 31, 2025

The band continues to make sunny, funky pop that offers an escapist path.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2025

Whatever else Beethoven’s music may have been, it was certainly not intended to be escapist.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall