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

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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Verb
The ex-con accused of choking and trying to rape a 21-year-old woman on a Hell’s Kitchen sidewalk was a sadistic predator who was caught on camera following several women for more than an hour before the horrific attack, prosecutors said. Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 15 Aug. 2025 Then, in November, 2019, days before the French release of the movie, the photographer Valentine Monnier publicly accused Polanski of beating and raping her, in Switzerland, in 1975. Richard Brody, New Yorker, 14 Aug. 2025 Corll tortured, raped and killed at least 28 boys and young men between the ages of 13 and 20 in a rash of crimes dubbed the Houston Mass Murders. Nicole Acosta, People.com, 13 Aug. 2025 Over the years, the Boston Police Department has investigated many rideshare drivers who were accused of raping passengers. Rick Sobey, Boston Herald, 11 Aug. 2025 Serial killer Lorenzo Jerome Gilyard was convicted in 2007 for killing six women in Kansas City but is believed to have raped and strangled two girls and 11 women, most of whom had worked as prostitutes, from 1977 to 1993. Lisa Gutierrez, Kansas City Star, 7 Aug. 2025 The next execution is Kayle Barrington Bates in Florida on Aug. 19 for the 1982 stabbing death of a 24-year-old woman named Janet White, who was kidnapped from her office and taken to the woods before Bates beat her, tried to rape her and ultimately killed her. Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 5 Aug. 2025 Placer County sheriff’s deputies arrested a 27-year-old man suspected of attempting to rape a woman in a park outside Roseville Sunday afternoon — while other deputies on their way to the scene wound up in a car crash. Ethan Wolin august 4, Sacbee.com, 4 Aug. 2025 If Hamas hadn’t invaded, butchered and raped Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, there would be zero casualties in Gaza. Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 31 July 2025
Noun
Homicides dropped 21%, rapes decreased 24% and robberies declined 41%. Ray Sanchez, CNN Money, 23 Aug. 2025 States audits, however, have repeatedly shown that CoreCivic facilities in Tennessee have failed to follow federal standards, including closing investigations before receiving rape kit results, failing to send rape kits for testing and not recording disciplinary actions. Melissa Brown, The Tennessean, 21 Aug. 2025 Lawsuits that Grieco and his firm filed in recent months detail sordid accusations against Smyth, including those of rape and molestation. Andrew Carter, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 2025 Weinstein was convicted of rape by a New York court in 2020 and ordered to serve 23 years in prison. James Bickerton, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Aug. 2025 He is also slated to stand trial in September for a Utah County rape. Rachel Wolf, FOXNews.com, 14 Aug. 2025 However, Weinstein’s team is hoping prosecutors decide to drop the rape charge against Weinstein before the next hearing, because as Aidala notes, the charge carries a sentence of four years. Caitlin Huston, HollywoodReporter, 13 Aug. 2025 Real suffering is kryptonite to rich-people-problems entertainment (which is probably also why The Real Housewives of New York City imploded, this past January, in a season finale where one cast member accused another of insensitivity towards the former’s traumatic experience as a rape survivor). Judy Berman, Time, 13 Aug. 2025 The thorny debate around what to do with TV shows hosted by those who have faced accusations reared its head Tuesday, when Deadline broke the news that the BBC will not remove content from iPlayer featuring Jay Blades after it was revealed that The Repair Shop presenter is facing rape charges. Max Goldbart, Deadline, 6 Aug. 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

Time Traveler
The first known use of rape was in the 14th century

Cite this Entry

“Rape.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rape. Accessed 27 Aug. 2025.

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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