ape
Americannoun
-
apes
plural
-
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).
-
(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)
-
apes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
aped,
past participle, past
-
aping
present participle
adjective
noun
-
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
-
(not in technical use) any monkey
-
an imitator; mimic
-
informal a coarse, clumsy, or rude person
verb
Sensitive Note
See simianization.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
apesimple
-
apessimple
-
have apedperfect
-
has apedperfect
-
am apingprogressive
-
are apingprogressive
-
is apingprogressive
-
have been apingperfect progressive
-
has been apingperfect progressive
Past
-
apedsimple
-
had apedperfect
-
was apingprogressive
-
were apingprogressive
-
had been apingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
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
Explanation
To ape someone is to imitate them, often in a mocking way. Most people don't like being aped. To ape is to imitate, but it can mean a few different things. One type of aping is to blatantly imitate something or someone in every way. That's considered a bad thing because it's so unoriginal — it's a rip-off. Another kind of aping is like a caricature — to ape in this way is a way of making fun or spoofing someone. Either way, you probably don't want to be accused of aping.
Vocabulary lists containing ape
A Vocabulary Bestiary: Animals That Behave as Verbs
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Amazing Animals, A-Z
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Amazing Animals, List 3
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Of course, AI can ape us, and create things based on our patterns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
The discovery of Masripithecus moghraensis suggests that important parts of ape evolutionary history may remain buried in regions that paleontologists have not yet explored in depth.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
Younger ape fossils have been found across Africa, Asia, and Europe, but scientists continue to debate how these species were related and where their ancestors originated.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
Touching, embracing and kissing before stressful events may be an ancient way of building trust, according to scientists studying the behaviour of our closest ape relatives.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
The hyena, with only its jaws, will overcome the ape because it knows what it wants and how to get it.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
Lar gibbons are small apes covered in blonde or dark brown fur, with a distinctive ring of white fur around their faces.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Their results indicate that Masripithecus was more closely related to living apes than any Early Miocene species currently known from East Africa.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
More tolerant groups showed higher levels of reassuring touch, including what researchers described as "reassurance trains", in which multiple apes embraced one another in succession.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
"I'm playing Caesar in the first film, leading the apes to freedom and rebelling and breaking out of the facility," he recalls.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
And a book called Insect Societies by Edmund O. Wilson that linked human behavior to animals from apes to insects.
From "Hole in My Life" by Jack Gantos
In the 1960s, a primitive chatbot that mindlessly aped a therapist had people pouring their hearts out to it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2025
His misguided approach - often aped on the Accidentally Partridge social media account, which shares cringeworthy clips of public figures - is "provocative" but, Coogan hopes, "never mean-spirited."
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2025
Eggers’ “Nosferatu” succeeds because the director’s alterations to Henrik Galeen’s original 1922 screenplay, aped from Stoker’s novel with a few tweaks, are minimal.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2024
“I aped a city skyline,” says Cohen about the collection of screens, “with ‘buildings’ of different heights, to ape New York.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2024
She pushed her doll closer, so that Mrs. Fanning aped a surprised, cross-eyed look.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
Not in a rote way, by aping the characterizations, exactly, or even the plot, mechanically.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
The plan is to craft something “safe and fun” that will “bring joy” to its users, especially “women and gay people,” at a time when other social media executives are aping norms of reactionary ultramasculinity.
From Slate ● Feb. 11, 2025
And so European footwear pivoted into the wide, box-toed shoes - and obviously, the public responded by aping the regal style with a flourish.
From BBC ● Jan. 5, 2025
Emails between Percoco and a consultant referred to the money as “ziti,” aping a trope from “The Sopranos.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2023
I realized that she was aping my grandmother.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
