rape

1 of 4

noun (1)

ˈrāp How to pronounce rape (audio)
Synonyms of rapenext
1
: 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
2
: an outrageous violation
3
: an act or instance of robbing or despoiling or carrying away a person by force

rape

2 of 4

verb

raped; raping

transitive verb

1
: to commit rape on
2
a
: despoil
b
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

Synonyms of rape

Relevance

Noun (1)

Verb

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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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
That applies to organisations such as cafes, leisure centres, gyms and hairdressers, as well as public toilets, local sports clubs with at least 25 members, hospital wards, domestic violence shelters and rape-crisis shelters. — Harriet Marsden, TheWeek, 6 Aug. 2026 In later iterations, Reihana retitled the panorama In Pursuit of Venus [infected], for the astronomy project and rape joke at the heart of wallpaper’s story. — Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026 In this case, the driver in question has already pled guilty to rape and is serving a 10-year sentence. — Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 5 Aug. 2026 He was arrested on July 29 on three counts of rape, plus a single count of endangering the welfare of a child, officials said. — Leonard Greene, New York Daily News, 5 Aug. 2026 Warren Wells was one of the AFL's most explosive wide receivers in the mid-to-late 1960s — until his career was derailed by a rape conviction that sent him to prison. — Armando Salguero Outkick, FOXNews.com, 3 Aug. 2026 Samuel Leyva, 34, pleaded no contest to forcible rape and was transferred to state prison last June, records show. — Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 1 Aug. 2026 The jury could not come to a decision on three other counts of rape, according to the BBC. — Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 31 July 2026 Haq said nearly 70% of the cases in the last six months involved rape, many reportedly perpetrated by armed groups. — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 30 July 2026
Verb
Brooks, 19, was a student at LSU when she was hit by a car and killed after a group of men allegedly raped her, then dumped her out of a vehicle on a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, highway in 2023, and drove off. — Kelsie Cairns, FOXNews.com, 6 Aug. 2026 Enraged, Bianchi and Buono picked up the 19-year-old Washington on October 17, 1977, and bound, raped, and strangled her in the back of Bianchi’s car. — Laura Payne, Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Aug. 2026 Haiti has no fully functioning government, its capital is largely controlled by gangs and the United Nations issued a warning late last month about a surge in women and girls being raped, often by armed groups. — The Miami Herald Editorial Board, Miami Herald, 5 Aug. 2026 Investigators found cell phone videos of him raping the children, taken from his point of view, the prosecutor said. — John Annese, New York Daily News, 3 Aug. 2026 Fighters raped the girls and married them against their will. — Alexis Okeowo, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026 The filing alleged that West attempted to vaginally penetrate her with his fingers, forcibly kissed her, and orally raped her during a 2021 work trip, among other claims. — Lily Brown, PEOPLE, 30 July 2026 Medusa is raped by Poseidon, but because Poseidon raped her in Athena’s temple, Athena takes it as an affront and blames Medusa, cursing her by turning her hair into snakes. — Erin Qualey, Vulture, 27 July 2026 In the mid-2010s, Doe and another man broke into a 16-year-old girl’s home, restrained her father and another boy and raped her before setting the house on fire. — Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 27 July 2026

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

Phrases Containing rape

Rhymes for rape

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Browse Nearby Words

Rapateaceae
rape
rape butterfly
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Rape.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rape. Accessed 8 Aug. 2026.

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Kids Definition

rape

1 of 3 noun
ˈrāp How to pronounce rape (audio)
: 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
1
archaic : to take away by force
2
: to have sexual relations with by force
raper noun
rapist
ˈrā-pəst How to pronounce rape (audio)
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 How to pronounce rape (audio)
: 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
: 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 because of mental illness, mental deficiency, intoxication, unconsciousness, or deception see also statutory rape

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

More from Merriam-Webster on rape

Nglish: Translation of rape for Spanish Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about rape

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