ape

1 of 3

noun

1
a
: any of various large tailless semi-erect primates of Africa and southeastern Asia (such as the chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, or gibbon)

called also anthropoid, anthropoid ape

compare great ape
b
: monkey
especially : one of the larger tailless or short-tailed Old World forms
not used technically
2
a
: mimic
b
: a large uncouth person
apelike adjective

ape

2 of 3

verb

aped; aping

transitive verb

: to copy closely but often clumsily and ineptly
aper noun

ape

3 of 3

adjective

1
: wildly excited or enthusiastic
Our family of ten was ape for apricots, passionate about peaches …Jerry Nelson
usually used in the phrase go ape
Kids go ape pointing out the location of the tiny otter on the big stage.Dewayne Bevil
The odds of the Phillies winning a World Series increased exponentially and the betting world went ape.Tommy Gartrell
2
: showing extreme or uncontrolled anger, aggression, or agitation
usually used in the phrase go ape
They knew George Steinbrenner would go ape if the Yankees lost the highest-stakes game ever against the Red Sox.Randy Miller
Also, don't scream at the top of your lungs or generally go ape. Screaming is for emergencies.Jody Stallings
Winged things have spooked me ever since a duck went ape and attacked me at age 4 at the Bronx Zoo.Alfred Lubrano
Choose the Right Synonym for ape

copy, imitate, mimic, ape, mock mean to make something so that it resembles an existing thing.

copy suggests duplicating an original as nearly as possible.

copied the painting and sold the fake as an original

imitate suggests following a model or a pattern but may allow for some variation.

imitate a poet's style

mimic implies a close copying (as of voice or mannerism) often for fun, ridicule, or lifelike imitation.

pupils mimicking their teacher

ape may suggest presumptuous, unoriginal, or inept imitating of a superior original.

American fashion designers aped their European colleagues

mock usually implies imitation with derision.

mocking a vain man's pompous manner

Examples of ape in a Sentence

Noun Her boyfriend's some big ape she met at a party. Verb She apes the speech and manners of the rich. was caught aping the substitute teacher's thick accent
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Thanks to some advances in gene-editing technology, a new clue to ape tail loss has been uncovered. Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 29 Feb. 2024 To test whether apes displayed similar behavior, the team analyzed video footage of spontaneous social interactions between apes at zoos in Leipzig, Germany, and San Diego, US, paying attention to actions, body movements, facial expressions and the response of the target. Jack Guy, CNN, 14 Feb. 2024 Playful teasing might have evolved to help our ape ancestors gather crucial intel on their family’s and friends’ thoughts. Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 14 Feb. 2024 This suggests the ancestors of apes and humans were feasting on soft, sweet fruits, rather than on hard nuts and seeds. Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Jan. 2024 After this evolutionary split, apes evolved the formation of fewer tail vertebrae. Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 29 Feb. 2024 The authors also differentiate playful teasing, which is one-sided, from play, where both apes reciprocate. Jack Guy, CNN, 14 Feb. 2024 But the apes' strict diet may have led to the species' demise, researchers found. Mithil Aggarwal, NBC News, 11 Jan. 2024 But Cartmill’s study is the first to systematically document the behavior across four species—and to routinely check the responses of the ape being teased. Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 14 Feb. 2024
Verb
What happens when the forces that are supposed to stop an insane person begin to ape him? Christian Schneider, National Review, 25 Jan. 2024 Meta follows Airbnb The case apes Italy’s targeting of Airbnb earlier this year amid a European push to get U.S. tech companies to fork out more tax from their operations in the continent. Ryan Hogg, Fortune Europe, 22 Dec. 2023 Anderson’s work has long been darker than the TikTok memes that reduce it to a filter, aping its aesthetic and nothing else. Vulture, 29 Sep. 2023 In other cases, spoofers ape the signals made by missiles or planes to trick air defense systems into detecting attacks that aren’t happening. Aaron Krolik, New York Times, 19 Nov. 2023 These fake engine noises are occasionally fun, especially Dynamic, which does an almost compelling job of aping a combustion engine with a little digital flare. Daniel Golson, The Verge, 27 Oct. 2023 The Apple Watch has attracted plenty of imitators trying to ape the wearable's design and features. Chuong Nguyen, Ars Technica, 25 Oct. 2023 Beneath the red open sign of the nameless bar that watered down its whiskey, darkness and shimmery yellow beads of neon light half-heartedly aped what a corner of the Las Vegas Strip might have been thirty years ago. William T. Vollmann, Harper's Magazine, 16 Oct. 2023 Amazon aped the Remarkable 2 and gave the glass a rougher surface. Brandon Widder, The Verge, 15 Aug. 2023
Adjective
The same is true of their treatment of Number One, Luther, who is gravely harmed on a doomed solo mission and injected with a life-saving experimental serum that transforms his body into that of an ape-human hybrid. Crispin Long, The New Yorker, 12 July 2022 Each faces resistance from his own side, since anti-ape prejudice is still part of the formerly dominant species’ worldview. New York Times, 13 May 2021 But now the world’s gorillas, and also their great-ape cousins, the chimpanzees, bonobos and orang-utans, face another threat from their human neighbours: covid-19. The Economist, 16 May 2020 But a close analysis of the rounded head of the femur revealed that their hips were carrying weight differently and much more ape-like by hanging out in trees. Ashley Strickland, CNN, 2 Apr. 2020 Every hominin species in the fossil record has its own unique mix of familiar human traits and more ape-like ones, shaped by their environments and lifestyles. Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 30 Mar. 2020 Walking upright on two legs is considered a human trait that separates us from our ape relatives, like chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. Ashley Strickland, CNN, 2 Apr. 2020 That species was an early member of our genus who walked upright and had a mixture of human and ape-like features. Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 3 Feb. 2020 The fire started in a corner of the ape house’s roof in the first minutes of the new year and spread rapidly. Washington Post, 2 Jan. 2020

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ape.' 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

Middle English, from Old English apa; akin to Old High German affo ape

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1b

Verb

1632, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

1950, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of ape was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near ape

Cite this Entry

“Ape.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ape. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

ape

1 of 2 noun
1
a
: monkey entry 1 sense 1
especially : one of the larger tailless or short-tailed forms
b
: any of two families of large primates including the chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, and gibbon
2
3
: a large uncouth person

ape

2 of 2 verb
aped; aping
: to copy closely but often clumsily
aper noun

Medical Definition

ape

noun
1
: monkey
especially : one of the larger tailless or short-tailed Old World forms
2
: any of the large tailless semierect primates of Africa and southeastern Asia (as the chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, or gibbon)

called also anthropoid, anthropoid ape

More from Merriam-Webster on ape

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