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

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

The other four felonies against him, including two counts of rape, were also dismissed as part of the agreement. —Alex Brizee, Idaho Statesman, 24 Sep. 2025

Trump sued the network and George Stephanopoulos over the This Week anchor’s claim that the then-former president had been found liable for rape by a New York jury. —Ted Johnson, Deadline, 24 Sep. 2025

Several investigations and studies revealed the facility was plagued with poor infrastructure and mismanagement, rapes, assaults, and allegations of medical malpractice. —Pj Green september 24, Kansas City Star, 24 Sep. 2025

Although the rapes went unsolved for decades, authorities were able to make developments in the investigation in 2022 with Cameron becoming a suspect in 2023 after DNA testing found a link between the then-unknown rapist and his daughter, according to ABC. —Gabrielle Rockson, PEOPLE, 24 Sep. 2025

Recalling how rape was used as a tool of war in the country’s most recent conflict, which ended after NATO intervened in 1999, Osmani claimed that about 20,000 women were raped. —Rosemary Feitelberg, Footwear News, 23 Sep. 2025

Death, rape, medical abuse, and torture abound, happy endings don’t exist. —Nikki McCann Ramirez, Rolling Stone, 23 Sep. 2025

Between 1976 and 1986, California investigators searched in vain for the suspect behind 12 homicides, 45 rapes, and 120 burglaries, according to the FBI. —Ian Berry, CNN Money, 22 Sep. 2025

Aguilar has been in jail the entire time, and has now been sentenced to 18 years for human trafficking, rape and forcible oral copulation. —Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 19 Sep. 2025

Verb

According to the documents filed in the case, the act that Smith pleaded guilty to included his unnamed co-conspirator statutorily raping a 15-year-old minor via oral sex while Smith masturbated. —Mikelle Street, Them., 29 Sep. 2025

Police said the man then raped her inside a house. —Jennifer Rodriguez, Kansas City Star, 26 Sep. 2025

In August, a Salt Lake City County jury found Alahverdian, a former advocate for foster youth in Rhode Island, guilty of raping his 24-year-old former fiancée in December 2008. —Matt Lavietes, NBC news, 25 Sep. 2025

After the April party, a 17-year-old girl reported to a sheriff's deputy that she had been raped, though no charges have been filed. —Erin Glynn, Cincinnati Enquirer, 25 Sep. 2025

Vanessa LeMaistre claimed in a complaint that the hip-hop producer drugged and raped her in a 2016 incident that allegedly led to an unplanned pregnancy. —Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 25 Sep. 2025

Cameron then led her down a narrow path before raping her at knifepoint. —Gabrielle Rockson, PEOPLE, 24 Sep. 2025

Spanish conquistadores raped women at will. —Greg Grandin september 23, Literary Hub, 23 Sep. 2025

Once at the residence, the defendant raped the teenage girl. —Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald, 23 Sep. 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

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