Fugitive vs. Outlaw — What's the Difference?

A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known as a wanted person, can be a person who is either convicted or accused of a crime and hiding from law enforcement in the state or taking refuge in a different country in order to avoid arrest.A fugitive from justice alternatively has been defined as a person formally charged with a crime or a convicted criminal whose punishment has not yet been determined or fully served who is currently beyond the custody or control of the national or sub-national government or international criminal tribunal with an interest in his or her arrest.

In historical legal systems, an outlaw is one declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute or kill them.

Running away or fleeing, as from the law.

A fugitive from the law.

Of or relating to fugitives

A habitual criminal.

Lasting only a short time; fleeting

A rebel; a nonconformist

Difficult to comprehend or retain; elusive

A person excluded from normal legal protection and rights.

Given to change or disappearance; perishable

A wild or vicious horse or other animal.

Of temporary interest

To declare illegal

Wandering or tending to wander; vagabond

To place under a ban; prohibit

A person who flees, especially from a legal process, persecution, or danger.

To deprive (one declared to be a criminal fugitive) of the protection of the law.

Something fleeting or ephemeral.

A fugitive from the law.

A person who flees or escapes and travels secretly from place to place, and sometimes using disguises and aliases to conceal his/her identity, as to avoid law authorities in order to avoid an arrest or prosecution; or to avoid some other unwanted situation.

(history) A criminal who is excluded from normal legal rights; one who can be killed at will without legal penalty.

Fleeing or running away; escaping.

A person who operates outside established norms.

Transient, fleeting or ephemeral.

A wild horse.

Elusive or difficult to retain.

(humorous) An in-law: a relative by marriage.

Fleeing from pursuit, danger, restraint, etc., escaping, from service, duty etc.; as, a fugitive solder; a fugitive slave; a fugitive debtor.

(humorous) One who would be an in-law except that the marriage-like relationship is unofficial.

Not fixed; not durable; liable to disappear or fall away; volatile; uncertain; evanescent; liable to fade; - applied to material and immaterial things; as, fugitive colors; a fugitive idea.

(slang) A prostitute who works alone, without a pimp.

One who flees from pursuit, danger, restraint, service, duty, etc.; a deserter; as, a fugitive from justice.

To declare illegal.

Something hard to be caught or detained.

To place a ban upon.

Someone who flees from an uncongenial situation;

To remove from legal jurisdiction or enforcement.

Someone who is sought by law officers; someone trying to elude justice

To deprive of legal force.

Lasting for a markedly brief time;

A person excluded from the benefit of the law, or deprived of its protection.

A person engaging habitually in criminal activity, especially theft or robbery; an habitually lawless person, especially one who is a fugitive from the law.

To deprive of the benefit and protection of law; to declare to be an outlaw.

To remove from legal jurisdiction or enforcement; as, to outlaw a debt or claim; to deprive of legal force.

To render illegal; to ban, prohibit, or proscribe under sanction of some penalty.

Someone who has committed (or been legally convicted of) a crime

Declare illegal; outlaw;

Contrary to or forbidden by law;

Disobedient to or defiant of law;