rapt

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ræpt/ UK /ræpt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
completely absorbed or fascinated

The children listened with rapt attention.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · completely absorbed or... absorbed engrossed enthralled entrancedcaptivatedspellbound fascinated

Opposites

indifferent inattentive bored

Word family

Derived forms raptlyraptness

Related forms rapture ravish rapacious

Etymology

From Latin raptus, past participle of rapere ('to seize, carry off'); sense of being 'carried away' by emotion or thought.

raptus Latin rapere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# rapt

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ræpt/
**IPA (UK):** /ræpt/

## Meanings
1. completely absorbed or fascinated

## Examples
- The children listened with rapt attention.

## Synonyms
- absorbed
- engrossed
- enthralled
- entranced
- captivated
- spellbound
- fascinated

## Antonyms
- indifferent
- inattentive
- bored

## Derived Forms
- raptly
- raptness

## Related Forms
- rapture
- ravish
- rapacious

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: raptus
- Root: rapere

## Etymology
From Latin raptus, past participle of rapere ('to seize, carry off'); sense of being 'carried away' by emotion or thought.

## AI Etymology
Rapt comes from Latin raptus, past participle of rapere ('to seize, carry off'); sense of being 'carried away' by emotion or thought. The historical chain includes Latin raptus and Latin rapere. The quoted older senses, "to seize, carry off" and "carried away", supply the semantic anchors for rapt. The formation is best read as participial and borrowed: the word rapt carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "completely absorbed or fascinated". English derivatives include raptly and raptness; related English forms include rapture, ravish, and rapacious. The result is a adj whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

markdown