rapture
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Extreme pleasure, happiness or excitement.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rapcherSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹæptʃɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Extreme pleasure, happiness or excitement.
A spasm; a fit; a syncope; delirium.
verb
transitive
To take (someone) off the Earth and bring (them) to Heaven as part of the Rapture.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Extreme pleasure, happiness or excitement.
Used this way, rapture is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Warm and admiring
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
Rapture is emotionally heavy: it suggests deep or lasting feeling, not a passing mood, so it can overstate a small reaction.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use rapture
- “Listening to sweet music in a perfect rapture"- Charles Dickens.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.