Rapier

adj, name, noun

adj, name, noun ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A slender, straight, sharply pointed sword (double-edged, single-edged or edgeless), designed predominantly for thrusting; used during the Renaissance period of Europe for civilian duelling

    "[…] In his lawless fit, Behind the arras hearing something stir, Whips out his rapier, cries ‘A rat, a rat!’ And in this brainish apprehension kills The unseen good old man."

  2. 2
    a straight sword with a narrow blade and two edges wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Extremely sharp. not-comparable
  2. 2
    comparative form of rapey: more rapey comparative, form-of
  3. 3
    Cutting; employing keen wit. not-comparable

    "John is very quick on his feet during interviews by using his rapier responses."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
bladefoilswordtuck

Example

More examples

"Suddenly a soldier appeared, who held a rapier in his hand."

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French rapiere, from Middle French (espee) rapiere, from Old French rapiere, raspiere, from Spanish raspadera (“poker; raker; scraper”), from Spanish raspar (“to scrape”), of Germanic origin. More at rasp.

Related phrases

rapier-fish

More for "rapier"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.