rapturous
Americanadjective
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full of, feeling, or manifesting ecstatic joy or delight.
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characterized by, attended with, or expressive of such rapture.
rapturous praise.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rapturous
Explanation
If you're blissfully happy, you're rapturous. You could describe your purring cat rolling around in catnip as rapturous. The adjective rapturous is great for describing someone who's delighted, like the rapturous excitement of a room full of teenagers at their favorite pop star's concert, or the rapturous look on a child's face when she opens her birthday present and finds exactly what she had hoped for. The root word of rapturous is the Latin raptus or "a carrying off," and until the mid-1600s, that's exactly what rapture was used to mean.
Vocabulary lists containing rapturous
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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"The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton
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Little Women
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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.
That redemption arc was met with rapturous applause.
From Slate • May 20, 2026
A rapturous feeling takes over the room, as if all of the disparate identities and backgrounds came together in spiritual tune — the cluster having finally come together.
From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026
Some sent whole essays on their experiences, which ranged from rapturous accounts of low-maintenance, high-performance driving bliss to warnings about hidden costs.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026
The judges' scorecards told the story, as Price was declared the winner to rapturous applause with scores of 99-91, 98-92 and 98-92.
From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026
Dill experienced the familiar rapturous rush of excitement and adrenaline as it neared and began laying on the whistle.
From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner
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.
