get away with

English

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Verb

get away with (third-person singular simple present gets away with, present participle getting away with, simple past got away with, past participle got away with or (North American and regional UK) gotten away with)

Used other than with a figurative or idiomatic meaning. To get away, or escape, taking (something) with one.
The thieves got away with a million pounds' worth of jewellery.
(idiomatic) To escape punishment for doing something or avoid doing some work.
Do you think we could get away with taking Dad’s car?
Not many people have gotten away with stealing that much money.
Our teacher's so strict, he'd never let us get away with anything in class.

Coordinate terms

scot-free

Derived terms

get away with murder

Translations

to escape punishment for

German: mit etwas davonkommen, mit etwas durchkommen (de), ungeschoren davonkommen (de)
Hungarian: megúszik valamit (hu)
Icelandic: komast upp með
Italian: farla franca, cavarsela (it)

Polish: ujść na sucho
Portuguese: passar batido
Russian: сойти́ с рук pf (sojtí s ruk)
Spanish: irse de rositas

avoid doing work

Icelandic: komast upp með
Italian: cavarsela (it)

Russian: уви́ливать (ru) impf (uvílivatʹ), увильну́ть (ru) pf (uvilʹnútʹ)