WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

break away
    v 1: move away or escape suddenly; "The horses broke from the
         stable"; "Three inmates broke jail"; "Nobody can break out
         --this prison is high security" [syn: break, break out,
         break away]
    2: break off (a piece from a whole); "Her tooth chipped" [syn:
       chip, chip off, come off, break away, break off]
    3: interrupt a continued activity; "She had broken with the
       traditional patterns" [syn: break, break away]
    4: withdraw from an organization or communion; "After the break
       up of the Soviet Union, many republics broke away" [syn:
       secede, splinter, break away]
    5: flee; take to one's heels; cut and run; "If you see this man,
       run!"; "The burglars escaped before the police showed up"
       [syn: scat, run, scarper, turn tail, lam, run
       away, hightail it, bunk, head for the hills, take to
       the woods, escape, fly the coop, break away]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

37 Moby Thesaurus words for "break away":
   apostacize, apostatize, bail out, betray, bolt, break jail,
   break loose, change sides, cut loose, defect, desert, escape,
   escape prison, evade, fall away, fall off, flee, fly the coop,
   get away, get clear of, get free, get out, get out of, go over,
   jump, let down, make a getaway, pull out, rat, run out on, secede,
   sell out, skip, slip the collar, switch, switch over, turn cloak