Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense apes, present participle aping, past tense, past participle aped
1. countable noun
Apes are chimpanzees, gorillas, and other animals in the same family.
...the theory that man is descended from the apes.
2. verb
If you ape someone's speech or behaviour, you imitate it.
Modelling yourself on someone you admire is not the same as aping all they say ordo. [VERB noun]
...French films which merely aped Hollywood. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: imitate, copy, mirror, echo More Synonyms of ape
3.
See go ape
ape in British English
(eɪp)
noun
1.
any of various primates, esp those of the family Pongidae, in which the tail is very short or absent
anthropoid ape, See also great ape
2. (not in technical use)
any monkey
3.
an imitator; mimic
4. US informal
a coarse, clumsy, or rude person
verb
5. (transitive)
to imitate
Derived forms
apelike (ˈapeˌlike)
adjective
Word origin
Old English apa; related to Old Saxon ape, Old Norse api, Old High German affo
ape in American English
(eɪp)
noun
1.
any gibbon or great ape
2. Loosely
any Old or New World monkey
3.
a person who imitates; mimic
4.
a person who is uncouth, gross, clumsy, etc.
verb transitiveWord forms: aped or ˈaping
5.
to imitate or mimic
SIMILAR WORDS: ˈimiˌtate
Idioms:
go ape
Derived forms
apelike (ˈapeˌlike)
adjective
aper (ˈaper)
noun
Word origin
ME < OE apa; akin to Ger affe < Gmc *apan, prob. < OSlav opica
More idioms containing
ape
go ape
Examples of 'ape' in a sentence
ape
It means that four of the six great apes are one step away from extinction in the wild.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The finding suggests that great apes can understand the minds of others in a way that was once thought to be the sole preserve of mankind.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Amazingly the giant ape picked up the gadget and appeared to examine it in detail.
The Sun (2010)
We put apes in one family and humans in another.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
We are shaped by but not limited to our great ape selves.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Why had we lost our hair and become naked apes?
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Experts fear they could be the first great ape to become extinct in the wild.
The Sun (2015)
The idea that some birds are as intelligent as apes triggers mixed reactions.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
This is true far more widely than for great apes alone.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
And they were also convinced that apes were intelligent.
Evans, Peter & Deehan, Geoff The Descent of Mind - the how and why of intelligence (1990)
They are the most vocal of the great apes.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
We had become the naked ape.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Others called him a giant ape.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?
Christianity Today (2000)
But all that is over now, all those ape cartoons and monkey trials.
The Times Literary Supplement (2011)
The tabloids will go ape, and the tabloids will be right.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
So they shed most of their hair and evolved into us, the naked ape.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
They were settled into a den in the ape and monkey pavilion, which will be their quarters during six months of quarantine.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
NO need to go ape, man!
The Sun (2012)
What is harder, though, playing an ape or a man?
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
For many visitors, engaging with these gentle giant apes is an awe-inspiring experience.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
They triumphed in the zoo challenge, a two-day task where they had to ape the behaviour of a collection of animals.
The Sun (2008)
I couldn't say no to this part - a woman playing an ape playing a man!
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
On Earth at that time, chimpanzees were splitting from gorillas to form a branch of the ape family tree that led to the evolution of humans.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
In other languages
ape
British English: ape NOUN
Apes are chimpanzees, gorillas, and other animals in the same family.
...chimpanzees and other apes.
American English: ape
Brazilian Portuguese: primata
Chinese: 猿
European Spanish: mono
French: singe
German: Menschenaffe
Italian: scimmia
Japanese: 類人猿
Korean: 원숭이
European Portuguese: primata
Latin American Spanish: simio
British English: ape VERB
If you ape someone's speech or behaviour, you imitate it.
Modelling yourself on someone you admire is not the same as aping all they say or do.
American English: ape
Brazilian Portuguese: macaquear
Chinese: 模仿
European Spanish: imitar
French: singer
German: nachahmen
Italian: scimmiottare
Japanese: 物まねをする
Korean: 흉내내다
European Portuguese: macaquear
Latin American Spanish: imitar
All related terms of 'ape'
go ape
If someone goes ape , they become very angry and upset .
ape-man
a hypothetical primate representing a transitional form between true humans and the anthropoid apes , considered by some as constituting the genus Australopithecus
great ape
any of the larger anthropoid apes , such as the chimpanzee , orang-utan , or gorilla
Barbary ape
a tailless macaque , Macaca sylvana , that inhabits rocky cliffs and forests in NW Africa and Gibraltar : family Cercopithecidae , order Primates
Burberry ape
a young working-class person whose tastes , although sometimes expensive , are considered vulgar by some
anthropoid ape
any primate of the family Pongidae, having no tail, elongated arms, and a highly developed brain. The group includes gibbons , orang-utans , chimpanzees , and gorillas
go ape over
to become extremely enthusiastic about
Swartkrans ape-man
an early hominid ( Australopithecus robustus crassidens ) known from fossil remains and thought to be from the Middle Pleistocene
Chinese translation of 'ape'
ape
(eɪp)
n(c)
猿 (yuán)
vt
(= imitate) 模仿 (mófǎng)
(verb)
Definition
to imitate
These films merely ape Hollywood.
Synonyms
imitate
a precedent which may be imitated by other activists
copy
We all tend to copy people we admire.
coquettish gestures which she had copied from actresses in soap operas
mirror
His own shock was mirrored in her face.
echo
Many phrases in the last chapter echo earlier passages.
mock
parrot
Many politicians simply parrot impressive-sounding phrases.
mimic
She could mimic anybody, reducing her friends to helpless laughter.
parody
It was easy to parody his rather pompous manner of speaking.
caricature
Her political career has been caricatured in the newspapers.
affect
He listened to them, affecting an amused interest.
counterfeit
He financed a plot to counterfeit gold coins.
idiom
See go ape
related words
collective nounshrewdness
Additional synonyms
in the sense of affect
Definition
to put on a show of
He listened to them, affecting an amused interest.
Synonyms
put on,
assume,
adopt,
pretend,
imitate,
simulate,
contrive,
aspire to,
sham,
counterfeit,
feign
in the sense of caricature
Definition
to make a caricature of
Her political career has been caricatured in the newspapers.
Synonyms
parody,
take off (informal),
mock,
distort,
ridicule,
mimic,
send up (British, informal),
lampoon,
burlesque,
satirize
in the sense of copy
Definition
to act or try to be like another
We all tend to copy people we admire.coquettish gestures which she had copied from actresses in soap operas