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 of rape

Noun (1)

• violation
• assault

Verb

• violate
• assault
• force

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

Noun

On his phone, customs agents discovered messages encouraging extreme violence, rape, Nazism and self-harm. —Curt Devine, CNN Money, 10 Feb. 2026

Brunel killed himself in jail while awaiting trial on a rape charge in France. —Arkansas Online, 9 Feb. 2026

Promising Young Woman, her directorial debut, got off to an electric start before eventually collapsing under the weight of its own attempts to delve into rage at a world that normalizes and trivializes rape. —Alison Willmore, Vulture, 9 Feb. 2026

Damian Donaldson, 38, was charged with 15 felonies, including rape, burglary and strangulation. —Meredith Colias-Pete, Chicago Tribune, 9 Feb. 2026

Brunel killed himself in jail while awaiting trial on a rape charge in France. —Michael R. Sisak, Fortune, 8 Feb. 2026

Survivors have filed civil lawsuits against some of the high-profile men for rape and abuse in connection to Epstein’s crimes. —Julie K. Brown, Miami Herald, 7 Feb. 2026

Last year, Marius Borg Høiby, her 29-year-old son from a previous relationship, was arrested and charged with 38 counts, including rape and abuse in a close relationship against a former partner. —Erin Vanderhoof, Vanity Fair, 6 Feb. 2026

Victoriano is currently serving a state prison sentence for rape, indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 years of age and larceny under $1,200. —Tim Dunn, Boston Herald, 6 Feb. 2026

Verb

Investigators said the woman was assaulted and raped inside the home. —Garrett Behanna, CBS News, 7 Feb. 2026

In August that year, Singh was sentenced to 20 years in prison – two consecutive 10-year terms – for raping two of his followers in a case dating back to 1999. —Rhea Mogul, CNN Money, 6 Feb. 2026

The driver asked her harassing questions on the ride before stopping the car and raping her, Dean alleged in the lawsuit. —Miguel Torres, Oklahoman, 6 Feb. 2026

Dean alleged that her driver raped her in November 2023 while giving her a late-night ride from a bar in Tempe, Arizona. —Bloomberg, Mercury News, 6 Feb. 2026

In the lawsuit, Jaylynn Dean alleged that she was raped by her Uber driver in November 2023 while returning to her hotel. —Samantha Subin, CNBC, 6 Feb. 2026

As part of a sweetheart deal his lawyers negotiated with federal prosecutors in South Florida, Epstein was able to walk free despite the fact that he was accused of raping and molested nearly three dozen girls. —Julie K. Brown, Miami Herald, 5 Feb. 2026

Prosecutors said Parham, 33, bashed the teen’s head against a railing and wall before raping and sodomizing her at knifepoint for nearly 10 minutes during the broad daylight attack. —Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 5 Feb. 2026

Despite being painted as a suspect by DaLuise, Suarez was cleared after Feinstein and Prugo were arrested and charged with stalking DaLuise and soliciting a man to rape her, per a September 2015 release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. —Raven Brunner, PEOPLE, 1 Feb. 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

Phrases Containing rape

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

Rhymes for rape

• ape
• cape
• crape
• crepe
• drape
• gape
• grape
• pape
• scape
• scrape
• shape
• snape

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