rapt
pronunciation
How to pronounce rapt in British English:
UK [ræpt]
How to pronounce rapt in American English:
US [ræpt]
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- Adjective:
- deeply moved
- wholly absorbed as in thought
Word Origin
- rapt (adj.)
- late 14c., "carried away in an ecstatic trance," from Latin raptus, past participle of rapere "seize, carry off" (see rape (v.)). A figurative sense, the notion is of "carried up into Heaven (bodily or in a dream)," as in a saint's vision. Latin literal sense of "carried away" was in English from 1550s. In 15c.-17c. the word also sometimes could mean "raped." Sense of "engrossed" first recorded c. 1500. As a past participle adjective, in English it spawned the back-formed verb rap "to affect with rapture," which was common c. 1600-1750.
Example
- 1. Except for an occasional whispered question , he sat in rapt attention .
- 2. Keats saw the right response to such revelations as rapt , silent awe .
- 3. He to whom this emotion is a stranger , who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe , is as good as dead ; his eyes are closed .
- 4. Hermione , on the other hand , was listening to lockhart with rapt attention and gave a start when he mentioned her name .
- 5. No wonder she held people in rapt attention at dinner parties , in line at the market , at bus stops .