Gape Meaning
/ˈɡeɪp/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo open the mouth wide, especially involuntarily, as in a yawn, anger, or surprise.
verbTo stare in wonder.
Sentence Examples
I can only gape at such perfection.
"Please don't gape at me. It's rather rude, y'know."
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
Children sometimes ____ in surprise when they see an unexpected gift.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The audience could only ____ in surprise as the magician performed his most daring and incredible trick yet.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English gapen, from Old Norse gapa (“to gape”) (compare Swedish gapa, Danish gabe), from Proto-Germanic *gapōną (descendants Middle English geapen, Dutch gapen, German gaffen), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰеh₂b-. Cognates include Russian зяпа (zjapa). Doublet of gap.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Eustace gaped at him in amazement. When his urbanity dropped away from him, as now, he had an innocence of expression which was almost infantile. It was as if the world had never touched him at all."
— 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter IX, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
"Home I vvould go, / But that my Dores are hatefull to my eyes. / Fill'd and damm'd up vvith gaping Creditors, / VVatchfull as Fovvlers vvhen their Game vvill ſpring; […]"
— 1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv’d, or, A Plot Discover’d. A Tragedy. […], London: […] Jos[eph] Hindmarsh […], →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 4:
"The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play."
— 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter I, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC, page 5:
"Brother Francine demands stronger rules, damns the needs of the body, and then sneaks off to a public pool to gape obscenely at the casually exposed flesh."
— 1982 February 13, Michael Bronski, “Boys from Catholic School”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 29, page 7:
"May that ground gape, and swallow me alive, / Where I shall kneel to him who slew my father!"
— c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Children sometimes ____ in surprise when they see an unexpected gift.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The audience could only ____ in surprise as the magician performed his most daring and incredible trick yet.