"take the easy way out" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "takes the easy way out",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taking the easy way out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "took the easy way out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taken the easy way out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "take<,,took,taken> the easy way out"
      },
      "expansion": "take the easy way out (third-person singular simple present takes the easy way out, present participle taking the easy way out, simple past took the easy way out, past participle taken the easy way out)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Suicide",
          "orig": "en:Suicide",
          "parents": [
            "Death",
            "Body",
            "Life",
            "Human",
            "Nature",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2023, Bryan Zachary Lane (lyrics and music), “Tradesman”, in Bryan Zach, performed by Bryan Zach, Warner Records, →OCLC",
          "text": "I wish I was a tradesman / Learnin' from some beat down old layman / […] Wanna sweat like hell, throw a hammer down / And know the old feelin' of a five o'clock smile / And know I didn't take no easy way out",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "The victims showed no relief when they learned that the perpetrator had killed himself in prison, stating that the perpetrator took the easy way out."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To cut corners, to follow the path of least resistance; to take shortcuts to avoid pain or having to struggle to achieve a desired result, to end or avoid a difficult situation in an easy or simple way that is not the best or most sensible or honorable solution"
      ],
      "id": "en-take_the_easy_way_out-en-verb-CUrttrDT",
      "links": [
        [
          "cut corners",
          "cut corners"
        ],
        [
          "path of least resistance",
          "path of least resistance"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "take the easy way out"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "takes the easy way out",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taking the easy way out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "took the easy way out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taken the easy way out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "take<,,took,taken> the easy way out"
      },
      "expansion": "take the easy way out (third-person singular simple present takes the easy way out, present participle taking the easy way out, simple past took the easy way out, past participle taken the easy way out)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "en:Suicide"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2023, Bryan Zachary Lane (lyrics and music), “Tradesman”, in Bryan Zach, performed by Bryan Zach, Warner Records, →OCLC",
          "text": "I wish I was a tradesman / Learnin' from some beat down old layman / […] Wanna sweat like hell, throw a hammer down / And know the old feelin' of a five o'clock smile / And know I didn't take no easy way out",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "The victims showed no relief when they learned that the perpetrator had killed himself in prison, stating that the perpetrator took the easy way out."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To cut corners, to follow the path of least resistance; to take shortcuts to avoid pain or having to struggle to achieve a desired result, to end or avoid a difficult situation in an easy or simple way that is not the best or most sensible or honorable solution"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "cut corners",
          "cut corners"
        ],
        [
          "path of least resistance",
          "path of least resistance"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "take the easy way out"
}