ripper
Americannoun
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a person or thing that rips.
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Also ripper bill, ripper act a legislative bill or act for taking powers of appointment to and removal from office away from the usual holders of these powers and conferring them unrestrictedly on a chief executive, as a governor or mayor, or on a board of officials.
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a double-ripper.
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a killer who dispatches and often mutilates victims with a knife or similar weapon.
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Mining. a hooklike tool, attached to earth-moving machinery, for tearing away ore, rock, etc.
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Chiefly British Slang. something especially strong, fine, or good of its kind.
noun
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a person who rips
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a murderer who dissects or mutilates his victims' bodies
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informal a fine or excellent person or thing
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ripper
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:
“Any good news at all and there are so many out there way off sides to a ripper of a rally,” Detrick said.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 17, 2026
Three overs later, Latham missed a sweep to be lbw to Root and when Leach produced a ripper that turned past Will Young's defensive stroke, New Zealand were three down still 59 adrift.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2023
The airtight ripper is possibly the first Stevie Wonder song one could legitimately mosh to, which is kinda weird and unexpectedly satisfying.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 16, 2022
The objects there are built on an Alice in Wonderland scale: tomato-shaped pincushions as big as chairs, a gargantuan seam ripper in royal blue, bobbins a giant could use.
From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2021
He was a ripper, and I adored that.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
"You think bodice rippers, contemporary things, fantasy. It covers a broad spectrum. So it's not maybe as niche as you think initially."
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
They were accompanied by vocal virtuosos Lucius and blues-rock rippers Judith Hill and Eric Krasno, each fixtures in the local music community trying to rebuild itself in the wake of the Eaton fire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2026
The 10-song set of vintage Foos anthems is their finest album in years, the stadium-ready rippers carrying a renewed sense of urgency following Hawkins’ death last year.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 2, 2023
They all blur the lines between women’s and literary-leaning commercial fiction, departing from the fantasy spaces of bodice rippers and misty moors to depict a world that looks a lot more like, well, our own.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 23, 2023
I saw a whole load of children zipping down a steep San Francisco hill the other day much as we children coasted down winter hills on wicked "double rippers."
From Vignettes of San Francisco by Bailey, Almira
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.
