ape

[eyp]

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).

2. (loosely) any primate except humans.

3. an imitator; mimic.

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

5. 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, aping 

1. to imitate; mimic.

   to ape another's style of writing.

adjective

1. Slang.,  (usually in the phrasego ape )

   1. violently emotional.

      When she threatened to leave him, he went ape.

   2. extremely enthusiastic (often followed by over orfor ).

      They go ape over old rock music.

      We were all ape for the new movie trailer.

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

3. an imitator; mimic

4. informal,  a coarse, clumsy, or rude person

verb

1. (tr) to imitate

Sensitive Note

See simianization.

Other Word Forms

• apelike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ape¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of ape¹

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

Example Sentences

Their focus was on monkeys and apes that evolved in Africa, Europe, and Asia, including chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans.

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Their study suggests that the mouth-on-mouth kiss evolved more than 21 million years ago, and was something that the common ancestor of humans and other great apes probably indulged in.

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The four-armed ape—Signify—bounds over to us, scoops us in his arms, and jumps to the other side of the broken ship.

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That view shifted when researchers analysed 51 fossil teeth from a range of hominids and great apes, including Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus, early Homo, Neanderthals, and Homo sapiens.

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Humans and other apes shed the uricase gene roughly 20 to 29 million years in the past.

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Related Words

• emulate 
• imitate