ape

[ eyp ]
See synonyms for ape on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Anthropology, Zoology. any member of the superfamily Hominoidea, the two extant branches of which are the lesser apes (gibbons) and the great apes (humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans).: See also catarrhine.

  2. (loosely) any primate except humans.

  1. an imitator; mimic.

  2. Informal. a big, ugly, clumsy person.

  3. Disparaging and Offensive. (used as a slur against a member of a racial or ethnic minority group, especially a Black person.)

verb (used with object),aped, ap·ing.
  1. to imitate; mimic: to ape another's style of writing.

adjective
  1. Slang. (usually in the phrase go ape)

    • violently emotional: When she threatened to leave him, he went ape.

    • extremely enthusiastic (often followed by over or for): They go ape over old rock music.We were all ape for the new movie trailer.

Origin of ape

1
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English apa; cognate with Old Saxon apo, Old Norse api, Old High German affo (German Affe ); further origin uncertain

usage note For ape

Other words from ape

  • ape·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use ape in a sentence

  • Varna is such a town as only could have been devised by a nomadic race aping the habits of civilized nations.

    The British Expedition to the Crimea | William Howard Russell
  • The usual meaning of the word to the Greek, as to the modern, seems to be little more than an aping or mimicking.

  • It is sound, perhaps it may even be fine sound, yet it signifies nothing: it is as the painted face aping true beauty.

    Spirit and Music | H. Ernest Hunt
  • Val leaned back in her chair, wondering if Julia was annoyed at Scherer's aping of Ethan.

    The Open Question | Elizabeth Robins
  • In Washington the servants are blacks; irresponsible, childlike, aping the vanities of the white people.

British Dictionary definitions for ape

ape

/ (eɪp) /


noun
  1. any of various primates, esp those of the family Pongidae, in which the tail is very short or absent: See anthropoid ape See also great ape

  2. (not in technical use) any monkey

  1. an imitator; mimic

  2. US informal a coarse, clumsy, or rude person

verb
  1. (tr) to imitate

Origin of ape

1
Old English apa; related to Old Saxon ape, Old Norse api, Old High German affo

Derived forms of ape

  • apelike, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012