rape
1 Americannoun
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unlawful sexual intercourse or any other sexual penetration of the vagina, anus, or mouth of another person, with or without force, by a sex organ, other body part, or foreign object, without the consent of the person subjected to such penetration.
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any sexual activity, with or without penetration, that takes place without the consent of one of the people involved.
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an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation; violation.
the rape of the countryside.
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Archaic. the act of seizing and carrying off by force.
The rape of the Sabine women is the subject of several classical sculptures and paintings that depict Roman soldiers kidnapping unwilling brides.
verb (used with object)
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rapes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
raped,
past participle, past
-
raping
present participle
-
to commit the crime of rape against (a person).
-
The logging operation raped a wide tract of forest without regard for the environmental impact of their harvesting practices.
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Informal: Offensive. to totally defeat, wreck, dominate, or decimate.
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Archaic. to seize, take, or carry off by force.
verb (used without object)
-
rapes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
raped,
past participle, past
-
raping
present participle
noun
noun
noun
-
the offence of forcing a person, esp a woman, to submit to sexual intercourse against that person's will See also statutory rape
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the act of despoiling a country in warfare; rapine
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any violation or abuse
the rape of justice
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archaic abduction
the rape of the Sabine women
verb
-
to commit rape upon (a person)
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(also intr) to plunder or despoil (a place) in war
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archaic to carry off by force; abduct
noun
noun
Sensitive Note
There are many violent metaphors to describe a dramatic victory or defeat: The home team slaughtered the competition on Saturday. It was a bloodbath! They absolutely massacred the visiting team. The defense was decimated. Our guys killed it! This type of hyperbole is sometimes tasteless, but it is not generally considered to be offensive. However, rape is a crime with survivors in every stratum of every society. Using rape as a metaphor for some other struggle trivializes the trauma of sexual assault that many have suffered. Such figurative usage is beyond insensitive and should be avoided.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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rapesimple
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rapessimple
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have rapedperfect
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has rapedperfect
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am rapingprogressive
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are rapingprogressive
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is rapingprogressive
-
have been rapingperfect progressive
-
has been rapingperfect progressive
Past
-
rapedsimple
-
had rapedperfect
-
was rapingprogressive
-
were rapingprogressive
-
had been rapingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rape1
First recorded in 1250–1300; (for the verb) Middle English rapen, from Anglo-French raper, from Latin rapere “to seize, carry off by force, plunder”; (for the noun) Middle English, from Anglo-French ra(a)p(e), derivative of raper
Origin of rape2
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French or directly from Latin rāpum (neuter), rāpa (feminine) “turnip”; cognate with Greek rhápys
Origin of rape3
First recorded in 1590–1600; from French râpe, Old French, Middle French raspe “grape stalks,” from Germanic; compare Old High German raspōn “to scrape,” Medieval Latin raspa “bunch of grapes”
Explanation
Rape is a word for sexual assault. This is one of the worst crimes there is. Rape can also mean to plunder or strip something of resources. There are few words more powerful than rape, which is a horrifying crime. To rape someone is to force them to have sex with you. This word isn't an obscenity, but its meaning is. There are also some metaphorical meanings, like if a country is said to rape the land of a resource, like oil. Some countries might rape their rain forests by cutting them down. However it's used, rape is a violent and ugly word.
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:
Cornell has named a former top US prosecutor, Sally Yates, to assess the university's response to the rape allegations.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
She has also vowed to close a "loophole" that prevents prosecutors from pursuing rape charges in cases when the victim has voluntarily consumed drugs or alcohol.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Many of the students on campus now weren’t enrolled at the time of the alleged rape.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
“Promising Young Woman” is not a compare-and-contrast film, where overly didactic morality coaching encourages the viewer to say, “Ah, yes, now I understand rape culture.”
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
This was the same year in which William Blake evoked England’s 'dark, Satanic mills* in his poem ‘Jerusalem’, but Beethoven's easy-listening Pastoral is not about the industrial rape of the countryside.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
The early 2025 crime decline builds off numbers from 2023 and 2024 and appears to include not just homicide but also robberies, rapes, burglaries, and auto theft.
From Slate ● May 7, 2025
Most cases never make it as far as court: in 2021/22 there were 2,298 rape and attempted rapes reported to the police, but only 152 prosecutions and 78 convictions.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2023
The 2022 annual report from the City of Atlanta Police Department shows violent crime — homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults — decreased 9% from 2021 to 2022.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 22, 2023
In Ms. Willis’ first year as top prosecutor, Fulton County had 204 homicides, 284 rapes and over 1,000 robberies.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 17, 2023
Thus the rapes consist of six long longitudinal belts, each with a short sea front and a long stretch back into the Weald.
From Science in Arcady by Grant Allen
That she’s speaking out about it puts one more crack in the lie that women who are raped should carry any shame.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2026
A woman who alleged that Jay-Z raped her when she was 13 has said she made "false accusations" and never met the US rapper, according to a court filing seen Friday.
From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026
The government said the changes follow Labour MP Charlotte Nichols showing "immense strength and bravery" in speaking publicly about being raped and calling for changes to the justice system.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
The judge reserved the question of what she called “guardrails for witnesses”—that is, whether Mr. Carroll’s alleged victims will be admonished or perhaps even penalized if they testify that he, rather than “she,” raped them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
So Leda's Twins from Colchis raped the Fleece, And brought the treasure to their native Greece.
From The Columbiad by Joel Barlow
In 2011, he received a Tony nomination for his role in The Scottsboro Boys, a musical based on the true story of nine Black teenagers wrongly accused of raping two white women.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
Earlier this year, ABC news anchor George Stephanopoulos appeared on the network’s “This Week” news program and asserted that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2025
Former Barcelona and Brazil footballer Dani Alves denied raping a woman in a nightclub as he took the stand on the final day of his trial in Spain.
From BBC ● Feb. 7, 2024
Carroll sued Trump in November 2019 and seeks at least $10 million in damages over comments he made while in office that June after she first publicly accused him of raping her in the mid-1990s.
From Salon ● Dec. 13, 2023
The New York jury on Tuesday cleared Mr. Trump of raping Ms. Carroll in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s.
From Washington Times ● May 10, 2023
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.
