rape

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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

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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

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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

According to the Department of Transportation, MARTA's rate of personal security events , including assaults, robberies and rapes, for employees and riders is nearly twice the national average. —Christopher Harris, CBS News, 4 June 2026

That was due to the fact that the majority of the house never put up an ounce of resistance, leading to a long, boring slog of a season that was only interrupted by bouts of bullying and cringe-worthy comments poking fun at rape, race, and the trans community. —Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 4 June 2026

One of the boys charged as adults in the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Overtown remains behind bars as attorneys appeared in court briefly on Thursday. —Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 4 June 2026

Campbell, who is the older brother of state Attorney General Andrea Campbell, is on trial for a series charges, including rape, kidnapping, and taping women nude and without their consent. —Colleen Cronin, Boston Herald, 4 June 2026

The third boy was convicted of two counts of rape and has been sentenced to an 18-month youth rehabilitation order. —Chantal Da Silva, NBC news, 3 June 2026

The other counts include one count of forcible rape; three felony counts of injuring a spouse, fiancée or partner; and one count of felony first-degree burglary with a person in the home, according to Los Angeles criminal records. —Anthony Robledo, USA Today, 3 June 2026

The subsequent investigation led to seven more women coming forward and accusing Borger, who is charged with seven felonies, including two counts of rape, and four misdemeanors. —Laura Bauer, Kansas City Star, 2 June 2026

The following year, the Crown Prosecution Service filed 21 criminal charges against the brothers, including rape, human trafficking and actual bodily harm. —Lynsey Eidell, PEOPLE, 31 May 2026

Verb

Raymond Lunn, 31, has been held in prison without bond since his arrest in October 2025 after nearly raping a student at JHU. —Cbs Baltimore Staff, CBS News, 7 June 2026

John Bennett was put to death after being convicted of raping and attempting to murder an 11-year-old girl. —Rena Rowe, The Washington Examiner, 6 June 2026

Timothy Hennis, a former master sergeant who worked on parachutes in the 82nd Airborne Division, was convicted in 1986 in North Carolina state court of raping a woman and murdering her and two of her daughters. —Steve Beynon, ABC News, 6 June 2026

Nuñez then began raping her while Jones stuffed rocks in her mouth to try to stop her from screaming, detectives said in the report. —Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 4 June 2026

Courossi also argued that some of the women’s action after the encounters weren’t consistent with being raped. —Colleen Cronin, Boston Herald, 4 June 2026

My sister had been named for a girl raped by Zeus, god of all gods, who turned himself into a swan for the occasion. —Literary Hub, 3 June 2026

The 2002 novel, later adapted into a much less effective 2009 movie directed by Peter Jackson, is about a teenage girl who gets raped and murdered by a serial killer. —Jen Chaney, Vulture, 3 June 2026

The statement from Romania's anti-terrorism organization, the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, also alleged that one of the defendants raped a woman twice in March 2022. —Lynsey Eidell, PEOPLE, 31 May 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