rape

1 of 4

noun (1)

ˈrāp 

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

Noun (1)

• assault
• ravishment
• sexual assault
• violation

Verb

• assault
• force
• ravish
• violate

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

Verb

Investigators later learned of a similar case in 2000, when a man raped a 19-year-old Penn State student at knifepoint at a Happy Valley, Pennsylvania, golf course, according to the Michigan sheriff and Centre Daily Times reporting. —Mike Stunson, Kansas City Star, 16 Jan. 2025

In the summer of 2021, the State Department reached out to the Israeli government and asked about the 15-year-old who said he was raped at the Russian Compound. —Brett Murphy, ProPublica, 15 Jan. 2025

The suit says Combs and the other men then took her to another location, where Combs raped her, TMZ reported. —Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News, 15 Jan. 2025

Ransom allegedly held Jackson hostage for four hours, threatened to kill her and her family and raped her. —William Melhado, Sacramento Bee, 14 Jan. 2025

Madoc rapes her, again and again, and his career blossoms in the most extraordinary way. —Lila Shapiro, Vulture, 13 Jan. 2025

Then the person raped her and stole her phone, which was later found nearby, deputies said. —Olivia Lloyd, Miami Herald, 13 Jan. 2025

Virgins were systematically raped before being executed. —Mariam Memarsadeghi, Newsweek, 13 Jan. 2025

One of the interviewees featured in the documentary is a woman identified only by her first name, Ashley, whose face is not shown on camera, who accused Combs of raping her in 2018. —Liam Quinn, People.com, 12 Jan. 2025

Noun

Each of the brothers has separately been accused by at least 10 women of forcible rape between 2002 or 2003 and 2021, the letter continues. —Mollie Markowitz, Fox News, 18 Jan. 2025

Wallace also confessed to an 11th murder, the 1990 rape and strangulation of 18-year-old Tashanda Bethea in Barnwell. —Michael Gordon, Charlotte Observer, 17 Jan. 2025

When a woman accuses him of rape, Rose is asked to testify in the investigation against him. —Zac Ntim, Deadline, 16 Jan. 2025

Prosecutors wrote in a detention letter that law enforcement agents reported speaking to more than 40 women who described being victims of at least one of the brothers, and each of the brothers have been accused of forcible rape by at least 10 women. —Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 16 Jan. 2025

And false convictions dropped; as DNA testing became more widespread, fewer Black men were wrongfully convicted of the rape of white women than in prior decades, per one report. —Cindi Leive, New York Times, 14 Jan. 2025

Orlok is a monster, and this film is a story of an underage girl who was a victim of rape. —Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 14 Jan. 2025

But some of these senators have also declined to speak face to face and confidentially with such critics, including the woman who accused Hegseth of rape. —Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, 14 Jan. 2025

Maynor Francisco Hernandez-Rodas, 38, a citizen of Guatemala, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s office, faces four counts of aggravated rape of a child, three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and a count of enticing a child under 16. —Flint McColgan, Boston Herald, 9 Jan. 2025

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

Phrases Containing rape

• acquaintance rape
• anti-rape
• date rape
• date rape drug
• gang rape
• oilseed rape
• statutory rape

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

1

archaic : to take away by force

2

: 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

: 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