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

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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

Noun (1)

• assault
• ravishment
• sexual assault
• violation

Verb

• assault
• force
• ravish
• violate

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

Verb

In December, instead of fighting, ABC News opted to quickly settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump over anchor George Stephanopoulos’ on-air assertion that the president-elect had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll. —Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 Jan. 2025

On Thursday afternoon, the 38-year-old Miami resident walked into the Miami Beach Police Department and told detectives that Oren Alexander raped her at the Versace mansion in 2014. —Ana Claudia Chacin and, Miami Herald, 28 Jan. 2025

Wood again alleges she was raped by an unnamed significant other during a relationship. —Jennifer Zhan, Vulture, 24 Jan. 2025

Dana Ireland, a 23-year-old white woman, was biking in a remote area of the Big Island when she was raped and murdered. —Simon J. Levien, New York Times, 23 Jan. 2025

October 27, 2024: Woman accuses Chris Brown of raping her on Diddy's yacht In the documentary Chris Brown: A History of Violence, an anonymous woman, who went by the name Jane Doe, claimed that the singer raped her in 2020. —Alex Heigl, People.com, 23 Jan. 2025

Another accuser, Thalia Graves, claims that Combs violently raped her in the summer of 2001 and threatened her into silence. —Rosemary Feitelberg, WWD, 23 Jan. 2025

Graves filed a federal lawsuit in New York claiming she was raped by Combs and his former bodyguard in 2001, an allegation later disputed by the bodyguard, Joseph Sherman, in a November countersuit. —Mary Whitfill Roeloffs, Forbes, 22 Jan. 2025

Investigators later learned of a similar case in 2000, when a man raped a 19-year-old Penn State student at knifepoint at a Happy Valley, Pennsylvania, golf course, according to the Michigan sheriff and Centre Daily Times reporting. —Mike Stunson, Kansas City Star, 16 Jan. 2025

Noun

Always a controversial figure, reports of Brand's alleged rape and assaults pushed him permanently out of public grace. —Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 31 Jan. 2025

While incarcerated in the 1990s, Farmer filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that federal prison officials deliberately and indifferently failed to protect her as a prisoner from rape and assault. —Jaclyn Diaz, NPR, 30 Jan. 2025

Nick Carter earned a courtroom victory on Tuesday, Jan. 28 in his legal battle against his rape accuser Melissa Schuman. —Rachel Desantis, People.com, 29 Jan. 2025

Cops also saw an 18% jump in rapes last year, NYPD officials said. —Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 25 Jan. 2025

The musician, whose real name is Brian Warner, had been under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department since 2021 after several women came forward to accuse him of rape and abuse. —James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2025

Riccardo Noury, a spokesman for Amnesty International Italy, said his agency had documented cases of torture, rape, forced labor and other crimes in prisons overseen by Mr. Njeem. —Emma Bubola, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2025

Flores, who is wanted in Veracruz, Mexico, for the rape of a child, illegally entered the U.S. four times. —Greg Wehner, Fox News, 24 Jan. 2025

Each of the brothers has separately been accused by at least 10 women of forcible rape between 2002 or 2003 and 2021, the letter continues. —Mollie Markowitz, Fox News, 18 Jan. 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

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