rape 1 of 2

1
as in violation
the act of forcing a person to engage in sexual activity and especially intercourse an international law defining rape as a war crime

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2
as in kidnaping
the unlawful or forcible carrying away of a person or animal the legend of the rape of the Sabine women by the ancient Romans was frequently depicted in classical art

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rape

2 of 2

verb

as in to violate
to engage in sexual activity and especially intercourse with a person unwilling or unable to give consent the defendant accused of raping the victim

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of rape
Noun
Child recruitment by armed gangs surged by 70% last year, while rapes are on the rise. Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 30 Sep. 2025 Cassie, his ex-girlfriend who first sued him for rape and trafficking, took the stand to tell her stories of their toxic relationship. Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 30 Sep. 2025 Police linked the saliva to both homicides and the 2021 rape test exam. Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 29 Sep. 2025 He was also linked to the 1997 rape of a 14-year-old girl in Tennessee. Stepheny Price, FOXNews.com, 29 Sep. 2025 The rape charges are all felonies, while the endangerment charge is a misdemeanor. Maia Pandey, jsonline.com, 26 Sep. 2025 This one is the rape of a woman staying in an AirBnB-type rental apartment. Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 25 Sep. 2025 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
Verb
Howell punched and raped her before making off with her necklace, cellphone and purse, police said. Allison Gordon, CNN Money, 2 Oct. 2025 Freites said she was tortured and raped in Colombia and her father and 8-month-old baby killed. Gisela Salomon, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2025 Afterward, prosecutors said Smith was found to have 1,291 child pornography files, several of which involved babies and toddlers and others that showed children being violently raped. Julia Marnin, Miami Herald, 30 Sep. 2025 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 Lindsay had been bound, raped and choked to death, then covered with blankets, police said. Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 29 Sep. 2025 Police said the man then raped her inside a house. Jennifer Rodriguez, Kansas City Star, 26 Sep. 2025 Yes, the basic scenario about a spaceman getting raped, returning to his ship, and giving unholy birth to a monster that hunts down his crewmates came from the original writing team. Chris Klimek, Vulture, 26 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rape
Noun
  • Another major violation would be improper cooling.
    Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 5 Oct. 2025
  • Adav Noti, a former FEC general counsel and now executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, says even with a quorum, the commission has historically done very little to regulate campaign finance violations.
    Ashley Lopez, NPR, 4 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Since then Russia is suspected of testing NATO’s resolve by violating the airspace of Norway, Romania, Denmark, Lithuania, Estonia, and now Germany too.
    Robert Birsel, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
  • Though Russian craft have repeatedly violated NATO airspace during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the shootdowns over Poland represented the first time NATO had shot down Russian drones.
    David Brennan, ABC News, 1 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The meeting came less than a week after investigators said 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford of Burton, a former Marine, crashed a pickup truck into the Grand Blanc ward of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before firing an assault-style rifle inside.
    Nour Rahal, Freep.com, 4 Oct. 2025
  • The agents were reportedly performing a routine patrol in Broadview, a suburb of Chicago, when the alleged assault occurred.
    Rachel Wolf, FOXNews.com, 4 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The story is based on the true case of the abduction in Israel of a seven-year-old Jewish boy, Yossele Schumacher, by his ultra-Orthodox grandfather in the early 1960s, to prevent him from being raised as a secular Jew by his parents.
    Annika Pham, Variety, 6 Oct. 2025
  • The sequence that ends in her abduction and killing is entirely fabricated by the show.
    JR Radcliffe, jsonline.com, 6 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Lawrence attempted to go over the pile on a fourth-down snap from the 1-yard line, but Bolton greeted him there, slapping the ball away and forcing a fumble inches before the ball reached the line.
    Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 7 Oct. 2025
  • But the shot contest forced Sarr to leave the restricted area and gave Mitchell Robinson an easy path for a putback.
    Josh Robbins, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • There’s something about kidnapping that scares the fear out of you, Goldberg-Polin says.
    Romina Ruiz-Goiriena, USA Today, 4 Oct. 2025
  • How a squad had burst into that house, taken away the adults, and left the children behind, all witnesses to the kidnapping.
    Mariana Enriquez October 2, Literary Hub, 2 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Rape.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rape. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.

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