# rape

Pronunciation: say "RAYP" /ɹeɪp/

## Noun

1. Sexual intercourse or other sexual penetration carried out without a person's consent, whether by force, threat, or because the person cannot consent; sometimes used more loosely for other sexual assaults.
   - Simple: The crime of having sex with someone who does not or cannot agree to it.
   - _Prosecutors charged him with rape and assault following the investigation._
   - _Conviction rates for rape remain low in many jurisdictions._
3. The plant Brassica napus, also called rapeseed, grown widely for its oil-rich seeds.
   - Simple: A farm plant with bright yellow flowers, grown for the oil in its seeds.
   - _Fields of rape stretched yellow to the horizon along the highway._
   - _The farm rotates rape with winter wheat to keep the soil healthy._
7. The merciless plundering, exploiting, or wrecking of something, such as a landscape, a city, a culture, or a principle.
   - Simple: The cruel wrecking or using up of something, such as land, a city, a culture, or an idea.
   - _Environmental groups condemned the rape of the coastline by developers who paved over the dunes._
   - _Opposition senators denounced the bill as a rape of the Constitution._
10. Overwhelming domination of an opponent; utter, one-sided defeat. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A complete and total defeat, when one side overpowers the other.
   - _The rematch was sheer rape: they led by forty points at halftime._
   - _His chess match against the grandmaster was pure rape from the opening moves._
11. An assault on the senses so severe that one feels permanently changed by it. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Something so bad to see or hear that you feel it has hurt you deeply.
   - _The feedback from the broken speakers was pure ear rape, and half the crowd covered their ears._
   - _That website's flashing neon colors are eye rape, so I closed it after a few seconds._

## Verb

2. To have sexual intercourse or other sexual penetration with someone without their consent, by force, threat, or when they cannot consent.
   - Simple: To have sex with someone who does not or cannot agree to it.
   - _He was convicted of attempting to rape a coworker after the office party._
   - _Witnesses testified that the soldiers raped civilians during the occupation._
4. To plunder or despoil; to strip of resources or lay waste to.
   - Simple: To rob and destroy a place, taking everything valuable from it.
   - _Strip mines rape the land and leave it barren for generations._
   - _Shareholders accused the new owners of raping the company for short-term profit._
8. To overpower or destroy someone; to defeat them utterly; to trounce. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To beat someone very badly in a game or contest.
   - _Their defense raped us in the second half. We didn't get a single shot off._
   - _Veteran players rape newcomers in ranked matches all the time._
9. To treat someone harshly or unfairly, including by exploiting their lack of choice, often for money. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To treat someone very badly or unfairly, or take advantage of them, often for money.
   - _Once the storm closed the highway, the only motel in town started raping stranded travelers with triple rates._
   - _Ticket sites rape fans with service fees because they control every seat in the arena._

## Verb

5. To seize and carry off something or someone by force. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: In old use, to take something or someone away by force.
14. To make haste; to hurry or move with speed. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To hurry or rush, moving or acting very quickly.

## Noun

6. The act of seizing and carrying off something or someone by force. *(rare)*
   - Simple: The act of taking something, or carrying someone away, by force.
12. Something snatched or carried away; the spoil or prey of an act of seizing. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Something grabbed and carried away, like a thief's stolen goods or a bird's catch.
13. Haste or hurry, sometimes reckless. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: In very old use, great hurry or rushing without care.
16. Fruit plucked or gathered in a bunch, such as a cluster of grapes. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Fruit picked together in a bunch, like a bunch of grapes.

## Adverb

15. Quickly or hastily; with great speed. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: In a very quick or hurried way, without waiting.

## Other meanings

- (noun) In slang sometimes considered offensive, an experience one party enjoys while the other finds it unpleasant, particularly when the unwilling party suffers more than necessary.
- (noun) The stalks and skins of grapes left after pressing, also packed into a filter for clearing wine or vinegar.
- (noun) One of the six former administrative divisions of the English county of Sussex.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4–13** — From Middle English rapen or rappen ("to abduct, seize, snatch, or carry off"), probably from Latin rapiō, possibly through or influenced by Anglo-Norman rap or rape. Similar Germanic forms exist, such as Swedish rappa and Low German rapen, but their relationship to the word is not clear.
**Meanings 14–15** — Proto-Germanic *hrapaną ("to fall down") gave Old Norse hrapa, meaning to fall, rush headlong, or hurry, which passed into Middle English as rapen. Norwegian rapa, Danish rappe, and German rappeln are related.
**Meaning 3** — Latin rāpa, a form built on rāpum ("turnip"), passed into Middle English as rape.
**Meaning 16** — Old Frankish *raspōn ("to scratch") gave Old French raper or rasper, meaning to rasp or scratch, and Middle English took this as rape ("grape stalk, rasper"). Old High German raspōn and Old English ġehrespan are related.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/rape (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).