Anthropology, Zoology. any member of the superfamily Hominoidea, the two extant branches of which are the lesser apes (gibbons) and the great apes (humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans).See also catarrhine.
(loosely) any primate except humans.
an imitator; mimic.
Informal. a big, ugly, clumsy person.
Disparaging and Offensive. (used as a slur against a member of a racial or ethnic minority group, especially a Black person.)
verb (used with object),aped,ap·ing.
to imitate; mimic: to ape another's style of writing.
adjective
Slang. (usually in the phrase go ape)
violently emotional: When she threatened to leave him, he went ape.
extremely enthusiastic (often followed by over or for): They go ape over old rock music.We were all ape for the new movie trailer.
Origin of ape
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English apa; cognate with Old Saxon apo, Old Norse api, Old High German affo (German Affe ); further origin uncertain
Except in this novel, it’s almost all of the animals—monkeys, apes, big cats, bears, and wolves—that are disappearing.
3 New Novels Show a Natural World in Peril|Erin Berger|October 3, 2020|Outside Online
We aren’t God’s final and most perfect creation, after all, but merely one more product of the same evolutionary process that gave rise to apes, lampreys, and limpets.
The Human Error Darwin Inspired - Issue 90: Something Green|Aaron Hirsh|September 30, 2020|Nautilus
It turned out to be a roughly 13-million-year-old molar from a small-bodied ape related to modern gibbons.
A stray molar is the oldest known fossil from an ancient gibbon|Bruce Bower|September 8, 2020|Science News
After finding the Ramnagar molar in 2015, Gilbert’s team compared it with corresponding teeth of living and extinct apes and monkeys.
A stray molar is the oldest known fossil from an ancient gibbon|Bruce Bower|September 8, 2020|Science News
People would gather to watch the apes in Rwanda’s national parks.
How to find the next pandemic virus before it finds us|Lindsey Konkel|April 30, 2020|Science News For Students
But a series of misunderstandings triggers an all-out war between man and ape, threatening the future of mankind.
Motion Capture Maestro Andy Serkis on ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ and Revolutionizing Cinema|Marlow Stern|July 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Yup, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld compared President Obama to an ape.
Fringe Factor: Convicted Killer, Registered Sex Offender Runs for California Governor|Caitlin Dickson|March 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If only Charlton Heston had been there to shriek something about overthrowing our ape overlords.
CPAC: Come for the Crazy, Stay for the Party|Michelle Cottle|March 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In his more-than-a-dozen books, he has thoughtfully mined the goings-on of the ape world for insights about the human one.
What Can Animals Teach Us About Our Morality?|Robert Herritt|April 5, 2013|DAILY BEAST
He self-consciously tries to ape the mannerisms of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.
The Foodie Detective: The Pepe Carvalho Novels by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán|Malcolm Forbes|October 3, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The ape's vocal cords, which now were Bentley's, were incapable of speech.
Astounding Stories, June, 1931|Various
It is the passion of the body swamping the brain; it's an ape that has seized a gun, a beautiful modern gun.
The Passionate Friends|Herbert George Wells
By-and-by the ape came to visit the crab, and seeing the fine tree laden with the yellow-brown fruit, begged a few.
Japanese Fairy World|William Elliot Griffis
The ape and the tiger, in fact, are not dead in any one of us.
The Life of the Spirit and the Life of To-day|Evelyn Underhill
The teeth strengthen the evidence, for they are described as too large for a man and too small for an ape.
Man, Past and Present|Agustus Henry Keane
British Dictionary definitions for ape
ape
/ (eɪp) /
noun
any of various primates, esp those of the family Pongidae, in which the tail is very short or absentSee anthropoid ape See also great ape
(not in technical use)any monkey
an imitator; mimic
USinformala coarse, clumsy, or rude person
verb
(tr)to imitate
Derived forms of ape
apelike, adjective
Word Origin for ape
Old English apa; related to Old Saxon ape, Old Norse api, Old High German affo
Take A Zoo Word Trip With Dictionary.com And The Houston ZooFrom habitat to pachyderm, these words will help kids of all ages understand more about the plants, animals, and environments they see represented at the zoo. See if you can find an exhibit that gives you an example of each one!
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Words related to ape
imitate, emulate, do, caricature, ditto, parrot, counterfeit, echo, impersonate, travesty, mirror, affect, copy, mock, parody, take off, make like