take 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.

   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.

   • 2023, Bryan Zachary Lane (lyrics and music), “Tradesman”, in Bryan Zach, performed by Bryan Zach, Warner Records, →OCLC:

     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

• “take the easy way out” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “take the easy way out”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “the easy way out”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “the easy way out” (US) / “the easy way out” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.