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.
Let Hollywood creatives get back to trying to rip each other’s heads off at the box office, in streaming, online and everywhere else we compete.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
The hurricane will bring heavy surf and strong rip currents along L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
While the waves will attract experienced surfers, the National Weather Service says the hurricane is bringing life-threatening surf and rip currents that make swimming hazardous.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 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
I rip the winged leopard out of the sketch pad and tear it up.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
Irving’s whimsically inventive “Sketch Book” of stories introduced Rip Van Winkle, the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow and other timelessly folkloric figures to an eager readership.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 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
Rip up your 2025 diary and take the pages from the first six months and burn them in your fireplace.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2025
“I’ll Holy Ghost you, Charles Baker Harris! Rip the sheets off my best bed, will you? Cut holes in ’em, will you?
From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee
RIP, Sam Neill: The New Zealand actor died unexpectedly today at 78.
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 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
She wrote: "My Sweet Nicky, thank you for years of laughter, love and Dodgers. I will think of you every time I see a rocking chair. I love you. RIP."
From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2026
The protesters, gathered to support Diarra's family, members of whom also took part, unfurled banners reading "Justice" and "RIP", before marching to the local police station.
From Barron's ● Jan. 25, 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
If so, there could be no one around to put an R.I.P. on humanity’s gravestone.
From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2024
Current judge Motsi Mabuse posted a black-and-white picture of Goodman on her Instagram story, alongside the letters "R.I.P."
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2023
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
The home of the Portland Trail Blazers ended up being R.I.P.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2022
You’d nod and then ask the person on what wall she wanted the R.I.P. and what to paint on it.
From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez
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 rips any sense of future that you may feel that you had planned for yourself - all that goes."
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
Courtney rips the IV from her arm and escapes, barefoot and in a hospital gown.
From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2026
Great every time though, he rips and clearly has some behind-the-scenes buzz from the songwriter trenches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2026
At last she slid it inside one of the rips in a couch cushion for safekeeping.
From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder
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
Another woman described the "stress and trauma" being felt in the nearby seaside resort of Biscarrosse Plage after a wildfire ripped through it.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 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
A filthy, ripped sofa piled with broken furniture and bags of garbage sits in the middle of the living area, a stained mattress propped up against its side.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
Moments later, however, he promised the audience “we’ll do a little ripping if you don’t mind,” signaling a shift away from the night’s opening message of resilience.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026
Now he anticipates removing drywall and ripping out the floors entirely.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
Which means, ultimately, ripping off the rest of us — as taxpayers and payers of health-insurance premiums.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026
It is a savvy move and coalition-building exercise that likely will quash accusations Warsh is ripping apart the very fabric of the Fed.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
“I’m not taking my chances again,” Njemile said, ripping down a poster about the stages of grief.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
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.
