What does "rapture" mean?
Extreme pleasure, happiness or excitement.
Rapture
/ˈɹæpt͡ʃɚ/ name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Extreme pleasure, happiness or excitement.
- Grammar: rapture is listed as name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: transport, abandon, admiration, affection.
- Useful contrasts: apathy, boredom, disinterest.
- Usage evidence: The pianist's performance of a Haydn sonata threw the woman into a rapture bordering on frenzy.
How to use "rapture"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "rapture" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "rapture" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "rapture" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "rapture" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "rapture" is acting as name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "transport" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "rapture", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Extreme pleasure, happiness or excitement. countable, uncountable
"They went into raptures about the meal they'd had."
- 2 a state of being carried away by overwhelming emotion wordnet
- 3 Alternative letter-case form of Rapture. alt-of, countable, uncountable
"In the last week, believers have linked Charlie Kirk’s assassination to the rapture theory: some on TikTok have suggested that Kirk, who in death became a martyr for Christian nationalists and whose memorial service veered into religious revival territory, could be resurrected during the rapture."
- 4 a state of elated bliss wordnet
- 5 The act of kidnapping or abducting, especially the forceful carrying off of a woman. countable, obsolete, uncountable
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 Rape; ravishment; sexual violation. countable, obsolete, uncountable
- 7 The act of carrying, conveying, transporting or sweeping along by force of movement; the force of such movement; the fact of being carried along by such movement. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"That 'gainst a rock, or flat, her keel did dash / With headlong rapture."
- 8 A spasm; a fit; a syncope; delirium. countable, uncountable
"Your pratling nurse Into a rapture lets her baby cry"
Verb
- 1 To cause to experience great happiness or excitement. dated, transitive
"She raptured me in summer by giving me Fitzgerald's flawed and gorgeous masterpiece, the book that held his tortured heart."
- 2 To experience great happiness or excitement. dated, intransitive
- 3 To take (someone) off the Earth and bring (them) to Heaven as part of the Rapture. transitive
""If she's raptured," Ellen said to them on the fifth night after Marylee's disappearance, as they sat on the roof of the building on their old beanbags and rusting garden furniture hauled up from the Museum, "if that's what happened to her, then […]""
- 4 To take part in the Rapture; to leave Earth and go to Heaven as part of the Rapture. intransitive, rare
- 5 To state (something, transitive) or talk (intransitive) rapturously. uncommon
"And then the flowers! May-day indeed. Hester had been in Switzerland at the end of June, years on years before, and often had she raptured to Effie about the day's ride, in which they collected a hundred varieties of flowers, most of them new to them."
Proper Noun
- 1 In some forms of fundamentalist Protestant eschatology, a prophesied sudden removal of Christian believers from the Earth before the Tribulation or simultaneous with the second coming of Jesus Christ.
"The end of the world will be at exactly 6 p.m. on May 21, 2011, says Camping, who along with his organization, Family Radio, are behind those billboards across the country forecasting the Rapture this Saturday. The Rapture, the Last Days, Armageddon and the Final Days of Judgment are all interchangeable. It's when God will destroy the Earth to show his love for humanity."
Antonyms
Example
"The pianist's performance of a Haydn sonata threw the woman into a rapture bordering on frenzy."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "rapture"?
Common synonyms include: transport, abandon, admiration, affection, affectionateness, amativeness.
How do you use "rapture" in a sentence?
The pianist's performance of a Haydn sonata threw the woman into a rapture bordering on frenzy.
How do you pronounce "rapture"?
Pronounced /ˈɹæpt͡ʃɚ/.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French rapture, from Latin raptūra, future active participle of rapiō (“snatch, carry off”).