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In “Take the Money and Run,” a 1976 earworm by the Steve Miller Band, the singer punctuates a song about teenage bandits with the catchy refrain “Go on, take the money and run.” Granted, the song probably wouldn’t have charted had it been titled “Abscond,” but the meaning would have been the same. Abscond is a word most often used in formal writing for when someone is running and hiding from the law, often with cash or other ill-gotten gains. In legal circles it’s used specifically when someone flies like an eagle from a jurisdiction to evade the legal process, as in “absconded from parole.” The history of abscond doesn’t evade scrutiny: it comes from the Latin verb abscondere, meaning “to hide away.” (That word’s root is condere, meaning “to conceal.”) Today, whether some joker absconds by going to the country to bury some treasure or by taking a jet airliner beyond the law’s reach, they are, in essence, hiding themselves away.
Synonyms
Examples of abscond in a Sentence
Kathleen Walsh, Vulture, 26 Jan. 2025
The perpetrator encourages the victim to transfer large amounts of money towards investments like cryptocurrency; once the scam is done, the scam artist absconds with the money.
—Chloe Berger, Fortune Asia, 20 Jan. 2025
The events saw the CIA, in wanting to find out the scientific capabilities of the Soviets, intercept and abscond with a space probe, study its secrets and return it without the other side knowing what had occurred.
—Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Nov. 2024
Upon arrival at the incident location, an agent driving a Border Patrol vehicle collided with an individual who then absconded into Mexico.
—Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 6 Dec. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near abscond
Cite this Entry
“Abscond.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abscond. Accessed 1 Feb. 2025.
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Legal Definition
abscond
intransitive verb
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