to cut or tear apart in a rough or vigorous manner.
to rip open a seam; to rip up a sheet.
to cut or tear away in a rough or vigorous manner.
to rip bark from a tree.
to saw (wood) in the direction of the grain.
Digital Technology. to copy (audio or video files from a CD, DVD, or website) to a hard drive or mobile device, typically by extracting the raw data and changing the file format in the process.
Can you rip this CD for me?
to become torn apart or split open.
Cheap cloth rips easily.
Informal. to move with violence or great speed.
The sports car ripped along in a cloud of dust and exhaust fumes.
a rent made by ripping; tear.
Slang. a cheat, swindle, or theft; ripoff.
The average consumer doesn't realize that the new tax is a rip.
rip out to utter angrily, as with an oath or exclamation.
rip off
to steal or pilfer.
to rob or steal from.
to swindle, cheat, or exploit; take advantage of.
phony charity appeals that rip off a gullible public.
rip into to attack physically or verbally; assail.
a dissolute or worthless person.
a worthless or worn-out horse.
something of little or no value.
something or someone of little or no value
an old worn-out horse
a dissolute character; reprobate
to tear or be torn violently or roughly; split or be rent
(tr; foll by off or out) to remove hastily, carelessly, or roughly
they ripped out all the old kitchen units
informal (intr) to move violently or precipitously; rush headlong
informal to pour violent abuse (on); make a verbal attack (on)
(tr) to saw or split (wood) in the direction of the grain
informal (tr) computing to copy (music or software) without permission or making any payment
to act or speak without restraint
the place where something is torn; a tear or split
short for ripsaw
A stretch of water in a river, estuary, or tidal channel made rough by waves meeting an opposing current.
A rip current.
See tear 2.
First recorded in 1400–50; 1960–65 rip 1 for def. 10; Middle English rippen “to tear out (seams, sutures), rip, rip off”; further origin uncertain; obscurely akin to Frisian rippe, Middle Dutch rippen, reppen; compare dialectal English ripple “to scratch”
First recorded in 1765–75; see origin at rip 1, ripple 1
First recorded in 1770–80; of uncertain origin; possibly alteration of rep, shortened form of reprobate
From Latin requiēscat (or requiēscant ) in pāce
When you rip something, you tear it quickly or forcefully. It's almost always better to rip off a Band-Aid than to peel it off slowly. You can rip a piece of paper in half, or rip a hole in the roof of your tent. When you tear, split, or pull something apart, you rip it. You can also rip figuratively — like when your move to a new city rips you apart from your best friend. A rip off is a bad deal or a swindle, a phrase that's been popular since about 1970, although rip meaning "steal" was used as prison slang much earlier.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Officials warned of hazardous conditions — such as high surf and strong rip currents — across much of the Southern California coastline.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
When Kacprzak finally blew the whistle, Lillelien was ready to let rip on the airwaves as the main radio commentator for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, known as NRK.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Rockaway is prone to strong rip currents, and “some days we would have to do dozens of rescues,” she writes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
As the night wore on and the energy in the stands flatlined, they piled into an empty section in the upper reaches of the right field seats with plans to rip off their shirts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
I get a little mad that Mama would rip off the label from her bottle and leave it in the bed for Charlie to find.
From "Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero" by Kelly J. Baptist
For the country’s semiquincentennial, my editors asked a question: What if old Rip had slept not for 20 years but 250?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Rip the Script, as the ad is called, features Haaland alongside fellow goal machines Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser will reprise their respective roles as Dutton’s volcanic daughter Beth Dutton and her husband, boss ranch hand Rip Wheeler, in Paramount+’s “Dutton Ranch.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2026
A Rip Van Winkle who slept through the last half-century and awoke on Monday, Oct.
From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2025
I’m like that old man with the beard, Rip Van Winkle.
From "All The Bright Places" by Jennifer Niven
RIP, Sam Neill: The New Zealand actor died unexpectedly today at 78.
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026
Following the verdict, Mieraili said: "RIP Thailand's justice system. I don't accept any of this. I didn't do anything wrong."
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
"He taught me so much. I owe him so much, and he will forever be in my heart. RIP Alexander Morton."
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026
Former Bradford striker Dean Windass wrote on X: "Sad news, great man and a gentleman. Thoughts go to his family RIP."
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2026
Downtown Clover started at a boarded-up gas station with RIP spray-painted across its front, and ended at an empty lot that once held the depot where Henrietta caught her train to Baltimore.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
Ex-Tottenham centre-back Ramon Vega: "So sad. What a player and what a character as a manager! Kevin, you brought quality and greatness to the game. Thank you. R.I.P."
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
If so, there could be no one around to put an R.I.P. on humanity’s gravestone.
From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2024
Among the drawings is a sidewalk memorial showing the image of a Black boy on a poster marked R.I.P. attached to an iron fence and surrounded by flowers.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 15, 2022
“Sir Sidney Poitier R.I.P. He showed us how to reach for the stars.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 2022
“Thass good. You should do one last R.I.P. —for Bodega, you know?”
From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez
“It rips out Prop. 103’s good‑driver protections and replaces your actual driving record with a black‑box score built on sweeping data collection,’’ Balber said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
As a once-in-a-century storm rips the place apart, Tom’s conversion may have arrived too late for the town, its visitors and his family.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026
The episode’s signature moment comes in a soliloquy from Gen Z hero Ava Daniels, in which she rips into the idea that A.I. is inevitable and talks about how we can and should fight it.
From Slate ● Jun. 2, 2026
“It’s like realizing you don’t have the title to your home as the market rips higher, that your purchase was null and void.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
And then he rips out some more and throws them into the air.
From "Finding Langston" by Lesa Cline-Ransome
It exploded in recent days as devastating wildfires ripped through regions of France and Spain, forcing more than 300,000 people to evacuate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
The discovery began with an exceptionally bright flare produced when a star wandered too close to a massive black hole and was ripped apart by its intense gravity.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
The blaze in Le Porge, just south of Medoc wine country, had ripped through 3,100 hectares -- an area four and a half times the size of Gibraltar -- since Wednesday, firefighters said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
The blaze ripped through the property in the southern La Victoria district early on Wednesday, Gen Oscar Arriola from the Peruvian National Police told local media.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
He came out to the porch wearing plaid pajama bottoms that were ripped at the ankle seam and a Free Shrugs T-shirt.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
In southern France, a fire in the area of Ponteves northeast of the city of Marseille had stabilised on Thursday after ripping through 2,500 hectares and destroying 10 houses, officials said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
He kicked off his 18-song set with “T.V .Eye” and continued ripping into “Raw Power and “I Got a Right” before anyone in the crowd had a chance to catch their breath.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Views of just one of the wildfires ripping across Ontario, Canada yesterday.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
It’s unclear why, and it doesn’t really do any favors to the show, which is more of a slow-burn psychological drama than a ripping action show that’s easy to binge through.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
All Scoob knows is every time she moves, it sounds like somebody’s ripping a sheet of paper.
From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone
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.
