ENGLISH
REFERENCE

abscond

v.
C2 Proficiency US //æbˈskɑnd// UK //ɐbskˈɒnd// ab·scond Archaic

v. to run away with something valuable, like money or property, and hide it. It is a formal word often used in legal stories.

v. to run away with property or money and conceal it. Often used in legal contexts to describe the theft of assets or the flight of a person with stolen goods.


SIMPLE

The thief tried to abscond with the stolen jewels.

CONTEXTUAL

The bank manager was arrested for attempting to abscond with several million dollars in cash.

COMPLEX

The legal team argued that the defendant had no intention to abscond with the assets, merely seeking to protect them from an impending bankruptcy.

Synonyms
Origin

Either borrowed from Middle French abscondre or directly from Latin abscondō (“hide”); formed from abs, ab (“away”) + condō (“put together, store”), from con- (“together”) + *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, set”). * Cognate with sconce (“a type of light fixture”).

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