ape

[ eyp ]

/ eɪp /

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See synonyms for: ape / aped / apes / aping on Thesaurus.com

noun

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.

(loosely) any primate except humans.

an imitator; mimic.

Informal. a big, ugly, clumsy person.

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.

to imitate; mimic: to ape another's style of writing.

adjective

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.

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Origin of ape

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

See simianization.

OTHER WORDS FROM ape

ape·like, adjective

Words nearby ape

apathy, apatite, apatosaurus, APB, APC, ape, apeak, APEC, ape hangers, Apeldoorn, Apelles

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use ape in a sentence

Except in this novel, it’s almost all of the animals—monkeys, apes, big cats, bears, and wolves—that are disappearing.
3 New Novels Show a Natural World in Peril|Erin Berger|October 3, 2020|Outside Online
We aren’t God’s final and most perfect creation, after all, but merely one more product of the same evolutionary process that gave rise to apes, lampreys, and limpets.
The Human Error Darwin Inspired - Issue 90: Something Green|Aaron Hirsh|September 30, 2020|Nautilus
After finding the Ramnagar molar in 2015, Gilbert’s team compared it with corresponding teeth of living and extinct apes and monkeys.
A stray molar is the oldest known fossil from an ancient gibbon|Bruce Bower|September 8, 2020|Science News
It turned out to be a roughly 13-million-year-old molar from a small-bodied ape related to modern gibbons.
A stray molar is the oldest known fossil from an ancient gibbon|Bruce Bower|September 8, 2020|Science News

People would gather to watch the apes in Rwanda’s national parks.
How to find the next pandemic virus before it finds us|Lindsey Konkel|April 30, 2020|Science News For Students
His play The Hairy Ape, the agent noted, “could easily lend itself to radical propaganda.”
Was the Unabomber a Eugene O’Neill Fan?|Robert M. Dowling|November 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was just another crazy Twitter account, with one exception: this ugly ape represented me, without my permission.
How I (Digitally) Killed My Twitter Impostor|JoBeth McDaniel|July 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They found that 60 percent of plantations overlapped with great ape habitat across the entire area.
Our Taste for Cheap Palm Oil Is Killing Chimpanzees|Carrie Arnold|July 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But a series of misunderstandings triggers an all-out war between man and ape, threatening the future of mankind.
Motion Capture Maestro Andy Serkis on ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ and Revolutionizing Cinema|Marlow Stern|July 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Yup, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld compared President Obama to an ape.
Fringe Factor: Convicted Killer, Registered Sex Offender Runs for California Governor|Caitlin Dickson|March 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Widder Morse wants to ape these well-to-do folks that live tother end o Whiffle Street.
The Girls of Central High on the Stage|Gertrude W. Morrison
In the cave of Naulette, near Dinant, Belgium, has been found the lower jaw of a man of decidedly ape-like aspect.
Man And His Ancestor|Charles Morris
The lower jaws in both were heavy, while the woman was almost destitute of a chin—a marked ape-like characteristic.
Man And His Ancestor|Charles Morris
This disposition the man-ape lost as its foot fitted itself to the surface of the ground.
Man And His Ancestor|Charles Morris
It is quite within the limits of probability, for instance, that the man-ape at an early date became omnivorous in its diet.
Man And His Ancestor|Charles Morris

British Dictionary definitions for ape

ape

/ (eɪp) /

noun

any of various primates, esp those of the family Pongidae, in which the tail is very short or absentSee anthropoid ape See also great ape

(not in technical use) any monkey

an imitator; mimic

US informal a coarse, clumsy, or rude person

verb

(tr) to imitate

Derived forms of ape

apelike, adjective

Word Origin for ape

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

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