ravish
/ˈɹæ.vɪʃ/
ravish verb: to seize and carry away by violence; to snatch by force.
Verb
ravish (third-person singular simple present ravishes, present participle ravishing, simple past and past participle ravished)
- To seize and carry away by violence; to snatch by force.
- Again, he refers to "such ministers as discharge their ministry amiss; ravishing away the goods of the widows and fatherless; and serve themselves, not others out of those things which they have received.1862, H. L. Hastings, Pauline Theology, page 61
- The French Government had not taken regular possession of it when the war with England broke out; and Bonaparte hastened to sell that Province to the Americans, who had already cast their eyes upon it, with the view both of preventing the English from ravishing it from him, and of procuring funds...1901, Thomas Henry Dyer, A History of Modern Europe from the Fall of Constantinople: 1789-1815
- To transport with joy or delight; to delight to ecstasy.
- That in things that do ravish with delight, men were not Masters of themselves, nor could they remember Gallateo's Rules; and that in time of Carnival, it was lawful to commit exorbitances.1669, Trafano Bocalini, translated by Henry Earl of Monmouth, Advertisements from Parnassus: In Two Centuries, translation of original in Italian
- […] and whilst he is observing how beautifully they are adorned therewith, his heart is ravished with them.1768, John Gill, An exposition of the book of Solomon's Song
- To rape.
- For loe that Guest would beare her forcibly, / And meant to ravish her, that rather had to dy.1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.x
- Their children also shalbe dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses shalbe spoiled, & their wiues rauished.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 13:16
- To have vigorous sexual intercourse with.
ravish meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
ravish in Tamil
- கற்பழி, பெரு மகிழ்வடை
ravish in Urdu
- آبروریزی کرنا, اغوا کرنا, رجھانا
ravish in Bengali
- মুগ্ধ করা, অপহরণ করা
ravish in Telugu
- to ravish, violate, commit rape upon
- చెరపట్టు cerapaṭṭu
More languagesFewer languages
- ravish in Malayalam
- ബലമായി പിടിച്ചുകൊണ്ടുപോകുക, കടന്നുപിടിക്കുക, കയറിപ്പിടിക്കുക, ലെെംഗികപീഡനത്തിനിരയാക്കുക
- ravish in Kannada
- ಎಳೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗು, ಹಿಗ್ಗಿಸು, ಸೊಗಸುಪಡಿಸು, ಅತ್ಯಾಚಾರಮಾಡು
- ravish in Sanskrit
- मुष् muṣ
Examples of ravish in a sentence
- The Franks ravished it from Muslim hands in the first decade of the sixth century, and the eyes of Islam were swollen with weeping for it; it was one of its griefs.2015, Alfred J. Andrea, The Human Record: Sources of Global History, Volume I: To 1500:
- Sweeter than the muſk of Tatar, the morning breeze from the navel of every flower raviſhed perfume.1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et...
- Passepartout was ravished to behold this celebrated place, and thought that, with its circular walls and dismantled fort, it looked like an immense coffee-cup and saucer.1873, Jules Verne, chapter 9, in Around the World in 80 Days, archived from the original on 12 Apr 2012:
- hee ravished her, and ravished her that was an Amazon, and therefore had gotten a habit of stoutness above the nature of a woman; but having ravished her, he got a childe of her.1655, Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia:
Synonyms of ravish
12 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of ravish
| third-person singular present | ravishes |
|---|---|
| present participle | ravishing |
| past participle | ravished |
| past | ravished |
Origin of ravish
From Middle English ravyschen, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ravis-, present participle stem of ravir (“to seize; to take away hastily”), from Vulgar Latin *rapire, from Latin rapere. See also rape.
Words formed from ravish
Words that rhyme with ravish
Questions about ravish
- What does ravish mean?
- Ravish means to seize and carry away by violence; to snatch by force.
- What is ravish in Tamil?
- Ravish in Tamil is கற்பழி, பெரு மகிழ்வடை. See Ravish meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use ravish in a sentence?
- The Franks ravished it from Muslim hands in the first decade of the sixth century, and the eyes of Islam were swollen with weeping for it; it was one of its griefs.
- What part of speech is ravish?
- Ravish is a verb.
- How do you pronounce ravish?
- Ravish is pronounced /ˈɹæ.vɪʃ/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of ravish?
- The past tense of ravish is ravished.
Words near ravish in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ravish (page history and authors); ravish (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ravish (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ravish (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); చెరపట్టు (Telugu) (page history and authors); ravish (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); ravish (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); मुष् (Sanskrit) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ravish.wav.
Cite this entry: “ravish.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ravish. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.