get away with sth
— phrasal verb with get uk/ɡet/us/ɡet/verb present participle getting, past tense got, past participle got or US usually gotten
(AVOID PUNISHMENT)
B2 to succeed in avoiding punishment for something:
If I thought I could get away with it, I wouldn't pay my taxes at all.
More examples
- By jumping over the barriers, he got away without paying for a ticket.
- Everyone thinks he's guilty of the robbery, but it looks like he's going to get away with it.
- It's time they put a stop to his bad behaviour. He's been getting away with it for too long.
- She's determined that her students will not get away with plagiarism.
- That's such an old trick. I can't believe he gets away with it.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Not punishing & reducing punishment
- absolve
- amnesty
- clemency
- commutation
- commute
- diplomatic immunity
- discharge
- free pardon
- hook
- impunity
- let
- let sb off
- off the hook idiom
- pardon
- parole
- remission
- remit
- reprieve
- spare
- unpunished
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(SUCCEED)
to do something successfully although it is not the best way of doing it:
Do you think we could get away with just one coat of paint on that wall?
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Succeeding, achieving and fulfilling
- accomplish
- achieve
- acquit
- actualize
- attain
- bear
- go places idiom
- go the whole hog idiom
- grade
- groove
- have the last laugh idiom
- have your/its moments idiom
- kill
- rise
- somewhere
- stand out
- streak ahead
- succeed
- sunset
- take hold idiom
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