rape

1 of 4

noun (1)

ˈrāp

: unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against a person's will or with a person who is beneath a certain age or incapable of valid consent because of mental illness, mental deficiency, intoxication, unconsciousness, or deception compare sexual assault, statutory rape

: an outrageous violation

: an act or instance of robbing or despoiling or carrying away a person by force

rape

2 of 4

verb

raped; raping

transitive verb

: to commit rape on

: despoil

archaic : to seize and take away by force

raper noun

rape

3 of 4

noun (2)

: an Old World herb (Brassica napus) of the mustard family grown as a forage crop and for its seeds which yield rapeseed oil and are a bird food compare canola

rape

4 of 4

noun (3)

: the pomace of grapes left after expression of the juice

Examples of rape in a Sentence

Noun (1) an international law defining rape as a war crime the legend of the rape of the Sabine women by the ancient Romans was frequently depicted in classical art Verb He is accused of raping the girl. She was raped by a fellow student.

Recent Examples on the Web

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Verb

Authorities determined that Gonzalez had been raped and bludgeoned to death, the district attorney's office said. —

Minyvonne Burke, NBC News, 21 Nov. 2024 Ibarra was convicted of murder, kidnapping, assault with attempt to rape and hindering a 911 call, among 10 offenses, in an Athens County, Ga., court on Wednesday, Nov. 20. —

Samira Asma-Sadeque, People.com, 20 Nov. 2024 Mace, who has recounted how she was raped at age 16, framed the issue as one grounded in personal safety in a vulnerable space. —

Philip Elliott, TIME, 19 Nov. 2024 In 1992, Tyson was sent to prison for six years after being convicted of raping a teenage beauty-pageant contestant. —

Anne Marie Lee, CBS News, 18 Nov. 2024 Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested in 2018 in a Sacramento, California, suburb on suspicion of being the man who killed 12 people and raped more than 50 women in the 1970s and 1980s. —

Alaa Elassar, CNN, 5 Nov. 2024 In 2023, Roy Rosselló of the boy band Menudo said that he was drugged and raped by José Menendez, an entertainment executive, in the 1980s. —

Marco Rubio, Newsweek, 2 Nov. 2024 Personal disputes Amount: $92 million Creditor: E. Jean Carroll Status: Under appeal Interest rate: About 4.75% The writer E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a department store. —

Dan Alexander, Forbes, 30 Oct. 2024 Roy Rosselló, an ex-member of the boy band Menudo, claimed that José — who was a record executive — raped him. —

Victoria Bekiempis, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2024

Noun

Grate was convicted of murder in the deaths of Stanley and Griffith, as well as the rape and kidnapping of Jane Doe, in May 2018. —

Natalie Cardenas, ABC News, 22 Nov. 2024 Avon and Somerset Police charged 92-year-old Ryland Headley of Ipswich in the 1967 rape and killing of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. —

Matt Robison, Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2024 Hegseth and his attorneys have denied the exchange was rape. —

Nick Penzenstadler, USA TODAY, 21 Nov. 2024 Under state law, rape is classified as a felony punishable by three to eight years in prison. —

Bill Chappell, NPR, 21 Nov. 2024 Danny Masterson’s attorneys tracked down jurors from the actor’s rape trial despite a judge’s order, court records show. —

Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 20 Nov. 2024 Comments The son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway has been arrested on suspicion of rape. —

Kirsty Hatcher, People.com, 19 Nov. 2024 Hospital officials are directed to complete an incident report, take the patient’s statement as well as those of witnesses, pull surveillance video and offer the patient a rape crisis hotline number. —

Gretchen Morgenson, NBC News, 18 Nov. 2024 This war started on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants led an invasion into sovereign Israeli territory and proceeded to murder, rape, mutilate, vandalize, and commit other inhumane acts. —

John Spencer, Foreign Affairs, 18 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English, "violent seizure, abduction of a woman with the intent of sexually assaulting her," borrowed from Anglo-French rap, rape, probably borrowed from Medieval Latin rapum, noun derivative of rapiō, rapere "to seize and carry off, abduct a woman with the intent of sexually assaulting her" — more at rape entry 2

Note: Use of this word in its most predominant modern meaning is attested early in legal Anglo-French and British Medieval Latin, though the precise derivational pathways are uncertain. The Latin word may have been based on the Anglo-French word, but both must ultimately be dependent on the classical Latin verb. Note that rapum exists alongside classical Latin raptus, the regularly derived u-stem verbal noun, used in British Medieval Latin in the sense "rape." Compare ravish.

Verb

Middle English rapen "to abduct a woman with the intent of sexually assaulting her," borrowed from Anglo-French raper, borrowed from Medieval Latin rapiō, rapere "to seize and carry off, abduct a woman with of the intent of sexually assaulting her," going back to Latin, "to seize and carry off, take away by force, carry off a woman with the intent of sexually assaulting her, carry or sweep along, impel forcibly (to a course of conduct), snatch up, gather quickly" — more at rapid entry 1

Note: The verb rapen in its predominant modern sense is rare in Middle English, the more common verb meaning "to rape" being ravisshen "to ravish." The Middle English Dictionary lists rapen with a meaning "to carry off, transport (the soul to heaven)," but all forms cited are for a past participle rapt, rapte, which appears to have been borrowed directly from Medieval Latin raptus, past participle of rapere in this sense (see rapt). See also the note at rape entry 1.

Noun (2)

Middle English, "turnip, Brassica napus," borrowed from Latin rāpa, rāpum "turnip"; akin to Germanic *rōbjōn- "turnip" (whence Middle Dutch & Middle Low German rove, Old High German ruoba, ruoppa), Lithuanian rópė, Greek rháphys, rhápys (all going back to an earlier *rāp(h)-), Church Slavic (eastern) rěpa, Polish rzepa (going back to *rēp-), Welsh erfin "turnips, rape," Breton irvin (going back to *arb-īno-, perhaps metathesized from *rab-), all from a substratal pre-Indo-European word of uncertain form

Note: The Greek forms with fluctuating aspiration, as well as the derivative rháphanos "any of various cultivars of Brassica oleracea, radish," with the suffix -anos, argue for membership in the same pre-Greek substratum as a number of other Greek words; whether the other European forms are borrowed from this etymon or are part of a more general substratum is unclear (see Robert Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2010, p. 1277). Not related to Old Norse rófa "tail" (see Guus Kroonen, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Brill, 2013, p. 415).

Noun (3)

French râpe grape stalk

First Known Use

Noun (1)

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2b

Noun (2)

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun (3)

1657, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of rape was in the 14th century

See more words from the same century

Cite this Entry

Style

“Rape.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rape. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.

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Kids Definition

rape

1 of 3 noun

ˈrāp

: an herb related to the mustards that is grown for animals to graze on and for its seeds which are used as birdseed and as a source of oil

compare canola

rape

2 of 3 verb

raped; raping

archaic : to take away by force

: to have sexual relations with by force

raper noun

rapist

ˈrā-pəst

noun

rape

3 of 3 noun

: an act or instance of raping

Etymology

Noun

Middle English rape "the herb rape," from Latin rapa, rapum "turnip, rape"

Verb

Middle English rapen "to take away by force," from Latin rapere "to seize"

Medical Definition

rape

1 of 3 noun

ˈrāp

: a European herb (Brassica napus) of the mustard family grown as a forage crop and for its seeds which yield rapeseed oil and are a bird food see canola sense 1

rape

2 of 3 transitive verb

raped; raping

: to commit rape on

rape

3 of 3 noun

: unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against the will usually of a female or with a person who is beneath a certain age or incapable of valid consent compare sexual assault, statutory rape

Legal Definition

rape

1 of 2 transitive verb

raped; raping

: to commit rape on

raper noun

rapist noun

rape

2 of 2 noun

Note: The common-law crime of rape involved a man having carnal knowledge of a woman not his wife through force and against her will, and required at least slight penetration of the penis into the vagina. While some states maintain essentially this definition of rape, most have broadened its scope especially in terms of the sex of the persons and the nature of the acts involved. Marital status is usually irrelevant. Moreover, the crime is codified under various names, including first degree sexual assault, sexual battery, unlawful sexual intercourse, and first degree sexual abuse.

Etymology

Transitive verb

Latin rapere to seize and take away by force

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rape

noun (1)

verb

noun (2)

noun (3)

Synonyms

Examples of rape in a Sentence

Word History

Dictionary Entries Near rape

Cite this Entry

Kids Definition

Medical Definition

Legal Definition