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raptus

American  
[rap-tuhs] / ˈræp təs /

noun

  1. a state of intense or overwhelming excitement; rapture; ecstasy.


Etymology

Origin of raptus

1840–50; < Latin: a seizing, equivalent to rap ( ere ) to seize, abduct, rape 1 + -tus suffix of v. action


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:

Breuning; tell her I am still subject to the "raptus."

From Life of Beethoven by Anton Schindler

It is, however, possible that the raptus was a more serious affair; and Professor Skeat has pointed out the coincidence that Chaucer’s “little son Lowis” was just ten years old in 1391.

From Chaucer and His England by G. G. Coulton

They do but repeat the promise and obscurity of Nature, for she herself has the same largeness, is such another raptus, proceeding to no end, but to a circle or complexity of ends.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 76, February, 1864 by Various

When in this state of mind Madame von Breuning used to say that he was in his "raptus."

From Music: An Art and a Language by Walter Raymond Spalding

Yet how graceful she is in her tragic raptus, the chorus shows.

From Woman in the Ninteenth Century and Kindred Papers Relating to the Sphere, Condition and Duties, of Woman. by Margaret Fuller

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