1
: an easy natural gait of a horse resembling a canter
2
: an easy usually bounding gait capable of being sustained for a long time
Examples of lope in a Sentence
Verb
The horses loped easily across the fields.
He went loping up the hill.
The outfielder loped after the ball.
Recent Examples on the Web
Molly Ball, Time, 20 July 2023
The pop mélange builds to a lope then decelerates for the chorus, all while retaining enormous swagger.
—Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 12 May 2023
Reum, a boyish and buoyant Midwesterner in navy sweats, lopes into the room to check on his wife.
—Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 14 Mar. 2023
That impression is compounded when a lone wolf lopes into the frame, the blood on its snout indicating a recent kill.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Feb. 2023
Stalking the thrust stage of the Griffin Theater at the Shed with an awkward lope, his mouth fixed in a perpetual grimace, Fiennes applies a hypnotic antiheroic varnish to the man who remade New York’s byways, parklands and beachfronts.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 2 Nov. 2022
In between construction sites, Riddle turned his head to watch a coyote lope across the road.
—Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, 29 June 2022
The bear passed before him at a lope, 50 yards away.
—National Geographic, 19 May 2017
Gina Decaprio Vercesi, Travel + Leisure, 27 Oct. 2023
Some 12,000 years ago, judging from archeological remains, these gray wolves loped into the lives of our hunter-gatherer forebears and then, over the millennia, gave rise to all the fantastic dog shapes and sizes that populate the planet today.
—Rosie Mestel, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019
The band’s twangy guitar sounds, droning vocals and loping rhythms mesh perfectly with the often atonal score composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and sound designer Ren Klyce’s unsettling soundscape, which features subsonic, insectoid rumbles that may induce Havana Syndrome in some viewers.
—Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2023
Ahead of her a coyote loped across the street with something in its mouth.
—Hazlitt, 30 Aug. 2023
The car is comfy when loping along and predictable when wrung out.
—Sam Smith, Car and Driver, 25 Aug. 2023
Distant Relatives builds on that album’s sound, with Nas flowing confidently over loping grooves produced by Damian and his brother Stephen Marley.
—Al Shipley, Spin, 18 Aug. 2023
Hurtig, a lanky forward with a prow of bright-blond hair, loped toward the ball and sent a low, hard shot.
—Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 6 Aug. 2023
Matheny will play an opening set, then strap on a bass and contribute to Miller’s relaxed, loping country-rock sound.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 12 July 2023
See More
Noun
Recounting this memory at the house in Braddock, Fetterman pauses our conversation and lopes back to the bedroom to retrieve the Post-its.
—Molly Ball, Time, 20 July 2023
The pop mélange builds to a lope then decelerates for the chorus, all while retaining enormous swagger.
—Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 12 May 2023
Reum, a boyish and buoyant Midwesterner in navy sweats, lopes into the room to check on his wife.
—Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 14 Mar. 2023
That impression is compounded when a lone wolf lopes into the frame, the blood on its snout indicating a recent kill.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Feb. 2023
Stalking the thrust stage of the Griffin Theater at the Shed with an awkward lope, his mouth fixed in a perpetual grimace, Fiennes applies a hypnotic antiheroic varnish to the man who remade New York’s byways, parklands and beachfronts.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 2 Nov. 2022
In between construction sites, Riddle turned his head to watch a coyote lope across the road.
—Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, 29 June 2022
The bear passed before him at a lope, 50 yards away.
—National Geographic, 19 May 2017
Verb
In the distance, the Mustang Mountains loped across the horizon.
—Gina Decaprio Vercesi, Travel + Leisure, 27 Oct. 2023
Some 12,000 years ago, judging from archeological remains, these gray wolves loped into the lives of our hunter-gatherer forebears and then, over the millennia, gave rise to all the fantastic dog shapes and sizes that populate the planet today.
—Rosie Mestel, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019
The band’s twangy guitar sounds, droning vocals and loping rhythms mesh perfectly with the often atonal score composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and sound designer Ren Klyce’s unsettling soundscape, which features subsonic, insectoid rumbles that may induce Havana Syndrome in some viewers.
—Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2023
Ahead of her a coyote loped across the street with something in its mouth.
—Hazlitt, 30 Aug. 2023
The car is comfy when loping along and predictable when wrung out.
—Sam Smith, Car and Driver, 25 Aug. 2023
Distant Relatives builds on that album’s sound, with Nas flowing confidently over loping grooves produced by Damian and his brother Stephen Marley.
—Al Shipley, Spin, 18 Aug. 2023
Hurtig, a lanky forward with a prow of bright-blond hair, loped toward the ball and sent a low, hard shot.
—Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 6 Aug. 2023
Matheny will play an opening set, then strap on a bass and contribute to Miller’s relaxed, loping country-rock sound.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 12 July 2023
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lope.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Dictionary Entries Near lope
Cite this Entry
“Lope.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lope. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.
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Kids Definition
lope
nounˈlōp
: an easy leaping way of moving
lope
verb
loper
noun
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