rape

1 of 4

noun (1)

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
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

Examples of rape in a Sentence

Verb He is accused of raping the girl. She was raped by a fellow student.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
Ashley, who was 11 weeks pregnant at the time, said she was raped by a stranger in the yard of the family's home. Rachel Scott, ABC News, 22 Mar. 2024 According to court documents, Pierce was accused of raping a production assistant from We’re Here — a television show bringing one-night-only drag shows to small communities across the U.S. — after purchasing several drinks for them. Ben Shimkus, Rolling Stone, 18 Mar. 2024 From 1994 until 2016, Gambia was led by one of the region’s most notorious dictators, Yahya Jammeh, who, a truth commission found in 2021, had people tortured and killed by a hit squad, raped women and threw many people in jail for no reason. Ruth MacLean, New York Times, 18 Mar. 2024 In the decades since the brothers were convicted, former boy band member Roy Rosselló claimed that José, who had been an executive at RCA, raped him, while the Menéndezes’ legal team unearthed a letter written before the murders in which Erik suggested to a cousin that his father was abusing him. Brent Lang, Variety, 13 Mar. 2024 Gardner previously alleged in November that Combs, 54, and Hall took turns raping her and a friend after meeting them at an event at MCA Records’ New York office. Rachel Desantis, Peoplemag, 13 Mar. 2024 One defendant is accused of raping a woman twice in March 2022, according to the statement. Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times, 12 Mar. 2024 Take the example of Roman baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi, who was raped by her painter-mentor, Agostino Tassi, in 1611 at the age of 17. Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager, The Conversation, 7 Mar. 2024 The federal judge who oversaw a New York defamation trial that resulted in an $83.3 million award to a longtime magazine columnist who says Donald Trump raped her in the 1990s refused Thursday to relieve the ex-president from the verdict’s financial pinch. Larry Neumeister, Fortune, 8 Mar. 2024
Noun
He was previously convicted of a 1994 rape in New York. Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 23 Mar. 2024 The two suspects are facing charges that include kidnapping, rape by force/fear, possession of methamphetamine and assault with a deadly weapon. John Metcalfe, The Mercury News, 23 Mar. 2024 The #MeToo movement empowered women to come forward with personal stories, ranging from drugging and rape to sexist behavior and misogyny. Karen Bliss, Billboard, 21 Mar. 2024 David Coots, 42, of Gig Harbor, Wash., was arrested on March 11 and charged with second-degree assault, third-degree rape and tampering with a witness, online court records show. Samira Asma-Sadeque, Peoplemag, 18 Mar. 2024 The Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office said Alvarez went before a Hingham District Court judge on Thursday and pleaded not guilty to a single count of aggravated rape of a child. Bradford Betz, Fox News, 17 Mar. 2024 The warden is ousted as FBI raids a California women’s prison known as the ‘rape club.’ After Newsom veto, California lawmakers try again to ban tampons with ‘forever chemicals.’ Wolverines vanished from California a century ago. Anthony De Leon, Los Angeles Times, 12 Mar. 2024 Public services have been limited, including trash collection, and cholera has resurfaced, while gangs have terrorized the population with systematic rape, indiscriminate kidnapping and mass killing. Maham Javaid, Washington Post, 12 Mar. 2024 The protagonist is a man who spent 20 years in jail after being falsely accused of rape. Patrick Frater, Variety, 11 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rape.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Dictionary Entries Near rape

Cite this Entry

“Rape.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rape. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

rape

1 of 3 noun
: 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 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
: 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

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