agape
/əˈɡɑː.peɪ//əˈɡeɪp/
agape adjective: in a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention; as with mouth hanging open.
Adjective
agape (comparative more agape, superlative most agape)
- In a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention; as with mouth hanging open.
- […] in himself was all his state,
More solemn then the tedious pomp that waits
On Princes, when thir rich Retinue long
Of Horses led, and Grooms besmeard with Gold
Dazles the croud, and sets them all agape.1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, London, Book 5, lines 353-357 - There I stand, agape like any country bumpkin1923, Arthur Michael Samuel, “Roubiliac (1695-1762)”, in The Mancroft essays, page 159
- Synonyms:
- open-mouthed, dumbstruck, wide-eyed, agog, catching flies
- […] in himself was all his state,
- Wide open.
- With his mouth agape and his hands clenched, Rufus Dawes, incapable of further speech, made a last effort to nod assent, but his head fell upon his breast; the next moment, the flickering light, the gloomy prison, the eager face of the doctor, and the astonished face of Vickers, vanished from...1874, Marcus Clarke, chapter VIII, in For the Term of His Natural Life
- He tries not to tear his victim's stockings, or whip too close to her stretched vulva, which shivers, unprotected, between thighs agape and straining, amid movements of muscle erotic, subdued, “monumental” as any silver memory of her body on film.1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow
- Synonyms:
- agog, catching flies
Adverb
agape (comparative more agape, superlative most agape)
- In a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention.
- Three of us--two biologists and I--were crouched behind a huge boulder at the water's edge and staring agape as the largest bear I ever saw came toward us1987 June 26, “On the Prowl in Grizzly Country”, in Chicago Tribune
- "This is Sammy 91," he told the two dozen tourists watching agape."2005 September 24, “Angry Surfers Say Cage-Diving Changes Great White's Way”, in Wall Street Journal
- Open wide.
- Its mouth yawned agape1911 January 7, “The Man-killer”, in Poverty Bay Herald
- The bathroom door stood agape, and the peeling vinyl floor was bare.1996, Perri O'Shaughnessy, Invasion of Privacy, page 508
Noun
agape (countable and uncountable, plural agapae or agapai)
- The love of God for mankind, or the benevolent love of Christians for others.
- Synonyms:
- charity
- Spiritual, altruistic, beneficial love which wills good for others.
- A love feast, especially one held in the early Christian Church in connection with the Eucharist.
agape meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malay
agape in Tamil
- அதிர்ச்சியால் வாயைப் பிளத்தல், தன்னலம் பாராத காதல்
agape in Urdu
- دھچکا پہنچانا, حیران کرنا, ہکا بکا کر دینا, حیرت سے مُنہ کھلنا
agape in Bengali
- হাঁ করে তাকানো
agape in Malay
- astonished
- nganga
Examples of agape in a sentence
- That's all well and good; one can sit, agape, reading the copious liner notes to this or any Explorer record, but it's what's inside the jacket that counts.1980, Joel Flegler, Fanfare, volume 3, numbers 4-6, page 198:
- The restaurant staff and OTHER DINNER GUESTS watch, agape.1996, Lech J. Majewski with Julian Schnabel, Basquiat:
- In the last frame, he throws back his head and wails, his mouth agape.1995 September 24, “Stop Me If Yov've Heard this One”, in Washington Post:
- With dropped jaws and eyes agape, a world beholds the blur of Michael Johnson1996 August 2, “Johnson can fly, and he does it without wings”, in Chicago Sun-Times:
Synonyms of agape
Forms of agape
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more agape |
| superlative | most agape |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more agape |
| superlative | most agape |
| Noun | |
| plural | agapae |
| plural | agapai |
Origin of agape
From a- + gape. First known use by John Milton in Paradise Lost (1667).
From Ancient Greek ἀγάπη (agápē).
Words formed from agape
Words that rhyme with agape
21 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about agape
- What does agape mean?
- Agape means in a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention; as with mouth hanging open.
- What is agape in Tamil?
- Agape in Tamil is அதிர்ச்சியால் வாயைப் பிளத்தல், தன்னலம் பாராத காதல். See Agape meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use agape in a sentence?
- That's all well and good; one can sit, agape, reading the copious liner notes to this or any Explorer record, but it's what's inside the jacket that counts.
- What part of speech is agape?
- Agape can be an adjective, an adverb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce agape?
- Agape is pronounced /əˈɡeɪp/ (UK).
Words near agape in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: agape (page history and authors); agape (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); agape (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); agape (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-agape.ogg, en-au-agape.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-agape1.wav.
Cite this entry: “agape.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/agape. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.