"take the easy way out" meaning in English

See take the easy way out in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: takes the easy way out [present, singular, third-person], taking the easy way out [participle, present], took the easy way out [past], taken the easy way out [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|take<,,took,taken> the easy way out}} 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)
  1. 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. Categories (topical): Suicide
    Sense id: en-take_the_easy_way_out-en-verb-E6WZffd0 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

{
  "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": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Suicide",
          "orig": "en:Suicide",
          "parents": [
            "Death",
            "Body",
            "Life",
            "All topics",
            "Nature",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "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.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "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": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "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-E6WZffd0",
      "links": [
        [
          "cut corners",
          "cut corners"
        ],
        [
          "follow",
          "follow"
        ],
        [
          "path of least resistance",
          "path of least resistance"
        ],
        [
          "shortcut",
          "shortcut"
        ],
        [
          "avoid",
          "avoid"
        ],
        [
          "pain",
          "pain"
        ],
        [
          "struggle",
          "struggle"
        ],
        [
          "desire",
          "desire"
        ],
        [
          "result",
          "result"
        ],
        [
          "end",
          "end"
        ],
        [
          "difficult",
          "difficult"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ],
        [
          "easy",
          "easy"
        ],
        [
          "simple",
          "simple"
        ],
        [
          "best",
          "best"
        ],
        [
          "sensible",
          "sensible"
        ],
        [
          "honorable",
          "honorable"
        ],
        [
          "solution",
          "solution"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "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 lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "en:Suicide"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "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.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "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": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "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"
        ],
        [
          "follow",
          "follow"
        ],
        [
          "path of least resistance",
          "path of least resistance"
        ],
        [
          "shortcut",
          "shortcut"
        ],
        [
          "avoid",
          "avoid"
        ],
        [
          "pain",
          "pain"
        ],
        [
          "struggle",
          "struggle"
        ],
        [
          "desire",
          "desire"
        ],
        [
          "result",
          "result"
        ],
        [
          "end",
          "end"
        ],
        [
          "difficult",
          "difficult"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ],
        [
          "easy",
          "easy"
        ],
        [
          "simple",
          "simple"
        ],
        [
          "best",
          "best"
        ],
        [
          "sensible",
          "sensible"
        ],
        [
          "honorable",
          "honorable"
        ],
        [
          "solution",
          "solution"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "take the easy way out"
}

Download raw JSONL data for take the easy way out meaning in English (2.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (65a6e81 and 0dbea76). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.