rapture
Americannoun
-
ecstatic joy or delight; joyful ecstasy.
- Synonyms:
- exaltation, transport, beatitude, bliss
- Antonyms:
- misery
-
Often raptures. an utterance or expression of ecstatic delight.
-
the carrying of a person to another place or sphere of existence.
-
Theology. the Rapture, the experience, anticipated by some fundamentalist Christians, of meeting Christ midway in the air upon his return to earth.
-
Archaic. the act of carrying off.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
the state of mind resulting from feelings of high emotion; joyous ecstasy
-
(often plural) an expression of ecstatic joy
-
the act of transporting a person from one sphere of existence to another, esp from earth to heaven
verb
Synonym Usage
See ecstasy.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of rapture
Explanation
Rapture is a feeling of emotional ecstasy so magical it's almost as if you've been transported to some other world. Coming to us from an old French word meaning "carried away," rapture certainly involves getting swept off to Shangri-La. It's happiness so extreme that you just about float to heaven, complete with big goofy grin plastered to your face. Traditionally reserved for those feeling spiritual ecstasy, rapture now extends to anyone feeling overwhelmed by emotion — sparked by everything from a passionate kiss to scoring an awesome dress on sale.
Vocabulary lists containing rapture
The Things They Carried
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"The Bells" by Edgar Allan Poe
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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.
Let’s replace Broadway with a bunch of rinks—and ask Stanley Cup hockey teams to send us all into the riveted rapture.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 13, 2025
Goggins’ gritty and/or Southern-fried shows are not the kind that inspire Emmy voters’ rapture.
From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2025
The newly undead Mississippi folks dance along, but it's different from Sammie's juke joint rapture — unnatural and jerky, even as they keep the rhythm.
From Salon • May 2, 2025
From the chaos backstage through Selena’s solo walk through a curtain to the rapture of her adoring fans, it’s just the first of the film’s string of pure Hollywood moments.”
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2025
Meg had a quiet rapture, and then brooded over the letter, while Jo set the sickroom in order, and Hannah “knocked up a couple of pies in case of company unexpected”.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
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.
