rapture
Americannoun
-
ecstatic joy or delight; joyful ecstasy.
- Synonyms:
- exaltation, transport, beatitude, bliss
- Antonyms:
- misery
-
Often raptures. an utterance or expression of ecstatic delight.
-
the carrying of a person to another place or sphere of existence.
-
Theology. the Rapture, the experience, anticipated by some fundamentalist Christians, of meeting Christ midway in the air upon his return to earth.
-
Archaic. the act of carrying off.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
the state of mind resulting from feelings of high emotion; joyous ecstasy
-
(often plural) an expression of ecstatic joy
-
the act of transporting a person from one sphere of existence to another, esp from earth to heaven
verb
Synonym Usage
See ecstasy.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of rapture
Explanation
Rapture is a feeling of emotional ecstasy so magical it's almost as if you've been transported to some other world. Coming to us from an old French word meaning "carried away," rapture certainly involves getting swept off to Shangri-La. It's happiness so extreme that you just about float to heaven, complete with big goofy grin plastered to your face. Traditionally reserved for those feeling spiritual ecstasy, rapture now extends to anyone feeling overwhelmed by emotion — sparked by everything from a passionate kiss to scoring an awesome dress on sale.
Vocabulary lists containing rapture
The Things They Carried
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"The Bells" by Edgar Allan Poe
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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:
The other night he rolled into the second half of Argentina’s group-stage closer against Jordan and delivered a free kick zapper that sent the Jerrydome into rapture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
It was a celestial explosion for a tournament, sending the sport into rapture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
As I listened to the details of what else she was doing to prepare for the rapture, I noticed that she was sporting a shirt with Charlie Kirk’s name on it.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2025
In Disney, Dudamel’s “Resurrection” had the quality of rapture in surround sound.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2025
That sense of inward concentration, of a rapture “completely under the influence of his own thoughts,” gives something of the idea of how a speaker might inhabit, or be inhabited by, his speech.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
Warriors re-emerged like a team possessed and stunned Toulouse with tries from Josh McKay, Gregor Brown, Sione Tuipulotu and Gregor Hiddleston to send Scotstoun into raptures.
From BBC ● Dec. 13, 2025
In the 94th minute, Forrest delivered and sent his fans into raptures.
From BBC ● May 17, 2025
For an opera steeped in raptures and reveries, in which fantasies of romantic bliss compete with premonitions of a pessimistic outcome, Sierra and Bernheim were a dream at the revival’s second performance on Sunday.
From New York Times ● Mar. 11, 2024
The visiting fans who were sent into glorious raptures at Easter Road already adored their Hearts hero before he etched his name further into capital folklore.
From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2023
Don’t pretend to be in raptures about mine.
From "Emma" by Jane Austen
It was me who managed to spill a glass of water over the notes Mourinho waved to a raptured audience at his unveiling news conference.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2024
Because they’re so light, they defy proper waste management, floating off trash cans and sanitation trucks like they’re being raptured by a garbage god.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2023
The future of the web is at stake The end of those cookies is called the Cookiepocalypse, and it’s apocalyptic because nobody really knows what advertisers will do once those tracking methods are raptured.
From The Verge ● Apr. 16, 2021
Yet even CBS’s team carried themselves as if they just found out all of the babies, puppies and kittens in the world suddenly raptured.
From Salon ● Nov. 7, 2018
Once, when I raptured in a violet glow given off by the Queen of the World, my father asked me why, and I thought he was crazy not to see.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
Nor ever again did her genius shine out in rapturing periods till she drew inspiration from the grand environment of the old homestead.
From Idle Hour Stories by Potts, Eugenia Dunlap
There also the birds warbled, with various voices, notes ravishing and rapturing the heart by the melodies of their musick.
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 13 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
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.
