English · Idiom Candidate

get away with

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

to do something wrong or unacceptable without being punished

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Làm điều gì đó sai hoặc không chấp nhận được mà không bị trừng phạt

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: escape with

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

He got away with cheating on the test

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Equivalents & related

Near equivalent thoát thân (verb) to get out of danger; to escape safely; to get away with one's life Tiếng Việt Near equivalent chống lưng (verb) to be supported or backed by a powerful entity (often from the shadow) so that one can get away with cheating or financial doping Tiếng Việt

Common questions

What does “get away with” mean?

to do something wrong or unacceptable without being punished Literally: escape with

Is “get away with” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

What is the closest equivalent?

“thoát thân” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.