rapture

[ rap-cher ]

/ ˈræp tʃər /

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noun

ecstatic joy or delight; joyful ecstasy.

Often raptures. an utterance or expression of ecstatic delight.

the carrying of a person to another place or sphere of existence.

the Rapture, Theology. 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), rap·tured, rap·tur·ing.

to enrapture.

Nearby words

rappé pie, rapscallion, rapt, raptor, raptorial, rapture, rapture of the deep, raptured, rapturous, raptus, rar

Origin of rapture

First recorded in 1590–1600; rapt + -ure

SYNONYMS FOR rapture

1 bliss, beatitude; transport, exaltation.

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ANTONYMS FOR rapture

1 misery.

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Related forms

rap·ture·less, adjective

Can be confused

rapture rupture

Synonym study

1. See ecstasy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for rapture

The book was optioned to HBO in 2011, around the time evangelist Harold Camping claimed The Rapture would occur—on May 21, 2011.
From ‘Lost’ to The Rapture: Creators Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta on HBO’s ‘The Leftovers’|Marlow Stern|June 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We can feel his sad cadences and the rapture of language in the Gettysburg Address.
Lincoln in Love|Jerome Charyn|February 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There is a phrase for the foreigners' rapture: mal d'afrique.
Susan Minot on Africa, Joseph Kony, and the Limits of Writing About Love|Lea Carpenter|February 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Most recently, Harold Camping went bust predicting that the Rapture would take place on May 21, 2011.
Sorry, Evangelicals, Syria Will Not Spur the Second Coming|Candida Moss|September 5, 2013|DAILY BEAST

Rapture was self-transcending, which led to quiescence, tranquility, and catharsis.
Why Do We Cry?|Michael Trimble|January 10, 2013|DAILY BEAST
It does not rob his joy of one rapture, but it keeps it from becoming careless.
The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, Vol. 2|Alexander Maclaren
And yet, among the many ingredients that go to make up that shy fevered beam, rapture is undoubtedly one.
Alas!|Rhoda Broughton
The sight of you fills my heart with rapture, and I fain would gaze on you for hours.
Hildegarde's Holiday|Laura E. Richards
The scene filled him with rapture; the loveliness of earth and sky intoxicated him.
Cudjo's Cave|J. T. Trowbridge
Had not she too known the rapture of that advancing flood of feeling—yes, though the flood flowed where it should not?
Double Harness|Anthony Hope

British Dictionary definitions for rapture

rapture

/ (ˈræptʃə) /

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

(tr) archaic, or literary to entrance; enrapture

Word Origin for rapture

C17: from Medieval Latin raptūra, from Latin raptus rapt 1

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