English Reference
Noun

rapist

n. countable
C1 Advanced US /ˈɹeɪpɪst/ UK /ɹˈeɪpɪst/ rapist UK spelling rapists

n.a person who forces another person to have sex against their will.

n.a person who commits the crime of sexual assault involving non-consensual penetration.


SIMPLE

The police finally caught the rapist after a long investigation.

CONTEXTUAL

The court sentenced the convicted rapist to fifteen years in prison following the testimony of several survivors.

COMPLEX

Legal reforms aimed at increasing conviction rates often focus on how the history of a rapist is presented during a trial to prevent character bias from influencing the jury.

Burnham announced last week that rapists, groomers and those who had committed serious child sexual offences would be excluded from the policy.

The Guardian· 11 Aug 2026

This would result in a free for all for dangerous and violent offenders, including murderers and rapists.

The Guardian· 10 Aug 2026

From rape + -ist.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Level C1 · Advanced
Frequency Frequent
Updated