ape
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.)
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
1usage note For ape
Other words from ape
- ape·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use ape in a sentence
There are times when you seem, to us, like apes loose in a museum, carrying knives, slashing the canvases, breaking the statues with hammers.
‘The Queen’s Gambit’ is a bestseller, but its author, Walter Tevis, was hardly a one-hit wonder | Michael Dirda | February 3, 2021 | Washington PostI had always thought it was fascinating how apes could communicate with humans at all, but I didn’t do my proper due diligence.
Solution to Evan Birnholz’s Jan. 31 Post Magazine crossword, “That Makes No Sense” | Evan Birnholz | January 31, 2021 | Washington PostThere are a lot of reasons why this happened, but a smaller reason is because hearing people actively promoted the idea that deaf people looked like monkeys or apes by using their hands to communicate.
Solution to Evan Birnholz’s Jan. 31 Post Magazine crossword, “That Makes No Sense” | Evan Birnholz | January 31, 2021 | Washington PostThe first ape heart that Kutinsky imaged belonged to a gorilla named Kondu.
When physicians and veterinarians team up, all species benefit | Liz Devitt | November 5, 2020 | Science News For StudentsNext, Kutinsky wants to study how genes are linked to heart disease in some families of great apes.
When physicians and veterinarians team up, all species benefit | Liz Devitt | November 5, 2020 | Science News For Students
Anatomically we find that we must place man with the apelike mammals, because of these numerous points of structural likeness.
A Civic Biology | George William HunterA long apelike arm came out and caught me by the coat lapels.
Highways in Hiding | George Oliver SmithThe sinister bead eyes, with brown splotches in their whites, were set wide apart and gleamed apelike under his scant brows.
The Clansman | Thomas DixonHe found the apelike bodyguard stretched out on a bunk, a vacant smile on his face.
Police Your Planet | Lester del ReyThe apelike Pascual, his face a study in curiosity, drew alongside.
The Wolf Cub | Patrick Casey
British Dictionary definitions for ape
/ (eɪp) /
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
US informal a coarse, clumsy, or rude person
(tr) to imitate
Origin of ape
1Derived 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
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