reap
Americanverb (used with object)
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reaps,
present (3rd person singular)
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reaped,
past participle, past
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reaping
present participle
verb (used without object)
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reaps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
reaped,
past participle, past
-
reaping
present participle
verb
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to cut or harvest (a crop), esp corn, from (a field or tract of land)
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(tr) to gain or get (something) as a reward for or result of some action or enterprise
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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reapsimple
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reapssimple
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have reapedperfect
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has reapedperfect
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am reapingprogressive
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are reapingprogressive
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is reapingprogressive
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have been reapingperfect progressive
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has been reapingperfect progressive
Past
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reapedsimple
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had reapedperfect
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was reapingprogressive
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were reapingprogressive
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had been reapingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of reap
before 900; Middle English repen, Old English repan, riopan; cognate with Middle Low German repen to ripple (flax); akin to ripe
Explanation
When you reap something, you enjoy the rewards of your efforts. When your great audition gets you cast in your dream role, you reap the benefits of all that rehearsing you did. Reap can also describe the act of harvesting crops. The farmer will then sell the crop, reaping a profit. Here, reap means the same as gain. You may have heard the expression "what you reap is what you sow," which comes from the New Testament and can apply to farming and everything else — if, for example, you are patient with other people, they in turn will be patient with you.
Vocabulary lists containing reap
Donald Trump Inauguration Address- January 20, 2017
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Down on the Farm
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100 SAT words Beginning with "R"
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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:
Nvidia is expected to reap commercial benefits from the project in the near term.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Kateri’s section is quieter and methodical like its central hero, who slips undetected among this community to sow her chaos and reap her revenge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
That lower price still would have allowed Gilead to reap a great financial return while giving more people access to treatment.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
But that has fuelled concerns over overheating, and questions over when the eye-watering amounts ploughed into developing AI and building new data centres will reap returns.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
Back in Berlin, Bill Harvey's carefully nurtured network of informants continued to reap new intelligence rewards for the Americans.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
They follow a pledge by leader Kim Jong Un to bolster nuclear forces, as Pyongyang reaps the benefits of deeper ties with Russia and sharpens its invective against US ally South Korea.
From Barron's ● Apr. 27, 2026
The party also reaps domestic gains from its push for cultural appeal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 31, 2026
Mykhailo Podolyak, a long-term aide to President Zelensky added: "War is war, with its own rules, where the aggressor inevitably reaps corresponding outcomes."
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2024
When the stock market soars, the state reaps a hefty chunk.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2024
"What a man sows on his name day, he reaps throughout the year."
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
He sees it as “a period where we have reaped the benefits of the first shift and see up ahead — not very far ahead — the risks of the next stage.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 23, 2026
But the programs that have stuck to the Southland have reaped the benefits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
On a sweltering Friday back at his home ground, Duckett reaped the rewards with a swashbuckling century to keep England in their deciding third Test against New Zealand.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
The emergence of electric vehicles, hybrids and more fuel-efficient gasoline-powered vehicles is part of the reason, even as those fuel efficiencies are mostly reaped by the well-heeled Americans who can afford the newer cars.
From MarketWatch ● May 5, 2026
But the rice he reaped from the land of the Hwangs brought him twice as much as that from his own rice land.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
Durham ran through Derbyshire's lower order in the morning with Potts reaping the reward for full and accurate bowling delivered at pace.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
The price of memory chips have jumped as a result, with Micron and its Korea-based peers, Samsung and SK Hynix reaping the benefits.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
The American steel industry is reaping the benefits of the AI data-center construction boom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
However, some have been more cynical about big tech firms reaping billions in annual revenue putting up product prices.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
Sometimes in the middle of sowing or reaping or tilling, or the innumerable tasks the land demanded, he would stop and straighten up, breathing hard and trembling.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
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.
