Word.ws English Dictionary

aping

/ˈeɪ.pɪŋ/

aping is the present participle and gerund of ape.

Meaning of ape

Verb

ape (third-person singular simple present apes, present participle aping or (uncommon) apeing, simple past and past participle aped)

  1. (intransitive) To behave like an ape.
  2. (transitive) To imitate or mimic, particularly to imitate poorly.
    • And well their dignity it ſuits, / To ape the gravity of brutes.1772, [Thomas Bridges], “Something by Way of Preface”, in A Burlesque Translation of Homer, London: Printed for S. Hooper, […], →OCLC

See all 9 meanings of ape

Noun

aping (plural apings)

  1. Foolish imitation or mimicry.
    • harmful apings of the better, and empty-headed apings of the worse1857, Augusta Johnstone, A woman's preachings for woman's practice, page 159

Forms of aping

pluralapings

Words that rhyme with aping

Questions about aping

What does aping mean?
Aping means foolish imitation or mimicry.
What is aping the present participle and gerund of?
Aping is the present participle and gerund of ape.
What part of speech is aping?
Aping is a noun.
How do you pronounce aping?
Aping is pronounced /ˈeɪ.pɪŋ/.
What is the plural of aping?
The plural of aping is apings.

Words near aping in the dictionary

  1. Apinagé
  2. Apinajé
  3. Apinayé
  4. apinch
  5. apine
  6. aping
  7. apings
  8. apinoid
  9. apio
  10. apiocerid
  11. apiocerids

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: aping (page history and authors); ape (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.

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Cite this entry: “aping.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/aping. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.