Word.ws English Dictionary

ripper

Syllables: rip·perUK/ˈɹɪpə/US/ˈɹɪpɚ/

ripper noun: something that rips something else.

Noun (1)

ripper (plural rippers)

  1. Something that rips something else.
  2. Someone who rips something.
  3. A legislative bill or act that transfers powers of appointment from the usual holders to a chief executive or a board of officials.
  4. A murderer who kills and often mutilates victims with a blade or similar sharp weapon.
    • Jack the Ripper
  5. A hook-like tool used to tear away ore, rock, etc.
  6. A person employed to tear away ore, rock, etc. to make a passage for material to be carried to the surface.
  7. (Australia, UK, slang) Something that is an excellent example of its kind.
    • He [Rafael Nadal] didn't convert that but gained the advantage and launched another ripper of a forehand to force the error from Tsitsipas on the volley. (Thurston, E. November 15, 2019, Rafael Nadal digs deep to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas at ATP Finals. Sky UK...
    • Martin walked around the vehicle, viewing it from all angles and giggling as he did so. “She's a ripper, Bert, a real ripper!”2001, Filton Hebbard, Memories of Kalgoorlie: Tales from the Australian Outback, page 334
  8. Software that extracts content from files or storage media.
  9. A tool or plant used to reduce soil compaction.
  10. (New-Jersey, US, slang) A hot dog deep-fried in oil until the casing bursts.
  11. A foghorn.

Adjective

ripper (not comparable)

  1. (Australia, UK, slang) Very good; excellent; fantastic.
    • Not only did Lachie Neale have another stand out game with 28 disposals and a ripper goal from outside 50, but Lions debutant Noah Answerth slotted in nicely picking up 5 intercept marks.2019 Kobe Howard, Coaches Wrap Brisbane Lions, 30 April 2019. Accessed 6 May 2019.

Noun (2)

ripper (plural rippers)

  1. (obsolete) One who brings fish from the seacoast to markets in inland towns.
    • But what's the action we are for now? Robbing a ripper of his fish.c. 1622, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger [et al.?], “Beggars Bush”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act V...

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Ripper

Ripper (plural Rippers)

  1. A surname.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Ripper

the Ripper

  1. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Jack the Ripper

Noun (3) capitalized: Ripper

Ripper (plural Rippers)

  1. (informal) A vicious murderer
  2. (informal) A serial killer

ripper meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

ripper in Hindi

रिपर, रिप्पर

ripper in Tamil

ரிப்பர்

ripper in Marathi

रिपर, रिप्पर

ripper in Urdu

رپر
More languagesFewer languages
ripper in Bengali
রিপার, রিপ্পার
ripper in Telugu
రిప్పర్, రిపర్
ripper in Malayalam
റിപ്പർ, റിപർ, റീപർ
ripper in Kannada
ರಿಪ್ಪರ್, ರಿಪರ್
ripper in Punjabi
ਰਿਪਰ, ਰਿੱਪਰ
ripper in Gujarati
રિપર, રિપ્પર
ripper in Odia
ରିପ୍ପର୍, ରିପ୍ପର
ripper in Nepali
रिपर

Examples of ripper in a sentence

  • My aunt would bring a stack of torrid bodice rippers with her to the beach, and would unfailingly blush if disturbed in her reading.
  • What do you get when you cross bodice rippers with Amish fiction?
  • An update on the bodice ripper, but so much more chaste.

All 12 example sentences with ripper

Forms of ripper

Noun
pluralrippers
alternative formripier
alternative formrippier
pluralRippers
Proper noun
pluralRippers

Plural of ripper: rippers

Origin of ripper

From rip + -er; originated 1605–15.

Compare rip (“a basket”), or riparian (“relating to a river bank”).

* As an English surname, from Middle English ripier (“basket”), from Old Norse hrip, from Proto-Germanic *hrepaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend”). * As a Scottish surname, from Middle English reper (“reaper, harvester”) (modern reaper). * As a German surname, variant of Ripp.

Words formed from ripper

Phrases with ripper

Words that rhyme with ripper

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about ripper

What does ripper mean?
Ripper means something that rips something else.
What is ripper in Hindi?
Ripper in Hindi is रिपर, रिप्पर. See Ripper meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is ripper?
Ripper can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce ripper?
Ripper is pronounced /ˈɹɪpə/ (UK).
What is the plural of ripper?
The plural of ripper is rippers.

Words near ripper in the dictionary

  1. ripped up
  2. Rippee
  3. Rippees
  4. Rippel
  5. Rippels
  6. ripper
  7. Ripperger
  8. Ripperological
  9. Ripperologist
  10. Ripperologists
  11. Ripperology

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ripper (page history and authors); Ripper (page history and authors); ripper (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ripper (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ripper (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ripper (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ripper (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ripper (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ripper (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ripper (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ripper (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ripper (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ripper (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ripper (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-au-ripper.ogg.

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