escapism

English

Etymology

From escape +‎ -ism.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈskeɪpɪzəm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

escapism (countable and uncountable, plural escapisms)

1. An inclination to escape from routine or reality into fantasy.
   • 2025 July 7, Sadiba Hasan, quoting Danielle J. Lindemann, “Why Is Everyone Watching ‘Love Island USA’?”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     “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.”

     (Can we archive this URL?)

2. A genre of book, film etc. that one uses to indulge this tendency.
3. The performance of an escape artist.

Related terms

• escapist
• escapology
• escapistic

Descendants

• → German: Eskapismus
• → Russian: эскапи́зм (eskapízm)

Translations

inclination to escape

• Arabic: هُرُوب مِن الوَاقِعِ m (hurūb min al-wāqiʕi), تَهْرُبِيَّة f (tahrubiyya)
• Bulgarian: ескапизъм m (eskapizǎm)
• Catalan: escapisme m
• Danish: eskapisme
• Finnish: todellisuuspakoisuus (fi), eskapismi (fi)
• French: escapisme (fr)
• German: Eskapismus (de) m, Wirklichkeitsflucht (de) f, Realitätsflucht (de) f, Entfliehung aus dem Alltag f, Flucht aus der Wirklichkeit f
• Hungarian: eszképizmus (hu), menekülés a nyomasztó valóság elől
• Japanese: 現実逃避 (ja) (げんじつ とうひ, genjitsu tōhi)
• Macedonian: ескепизам m (eskepizam)
• Maltese: Eskejpizmu
• Occitan: escapisme m
• Polish: eskapizm (pl) m
• Portuguese: escapismo (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਭਾਂਜਵਾਦ m (bhāñjvād)
• Russian: эскапизм (ru) m (eskapizm)
• Serbo-Croatian: eskapizam (sh) m
• Spanish: escapismo (es) m
• Swedish: eskapism (sv)
• Turkish: gerçeklerden kaçma
• Ukrainian: ескапізм m (eskapizm)

genre

• Finnish: eskapismi (fi)

See also

• displacement activity
• (more broadly) distraction, diversion

Anagrams

• Messapic, Campises, mispaces, misspace

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English escapism.

Noun

escapism n (plural escapisme)

1. escapism

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	escapism	escapismul		escapisme	escapismele
genitive-dative	escapism	escapismului		escapisme	escapismelor
vocative	escapismule			escapismelor