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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

rip.

To divide or separate the parts of (especially something flimsy, such as paper or fabric), by cutting or tearing; to tear off or out by violence.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɹɪp/
  1. To divide or separate the parts of (especially something flimsy, such as paper or fabric), by cutting or tearing; to tear off or out by violence.

    transitive
    to rip a garment; to rip up a floor
  2. To tear apart; to rapidly become two parts.

    intransitive
    My shirt ripped when it was caught on a bramble.
  3. To remove violently or wrongly.

    transitive
    A child untimely ripped from its parents' arms.
  4. To get by, or as if by, cutting or tearing.

    transitive
  5. To move quickly and destructively.

    figuratively · intransitive
    The tornado ripped through northern Nebraska.
  6. To cut wood along (parallel to) the grain.

  7. To copy data from a CD, DVD, Internet stream, etc., to a hard drive, portable device, etc.

    slang · transitive
  8. To take a hit, dose or shot of a drug (such as marijuana) or alcohol.

    slang
    He spent the day ripping shots at the bar and ripping blunts at home.
  9. To fart audibly.

    slang
  10. To mock or criticize (someone or something). (often used with on and into)

    US · slang · sometimes · transitive
  11. To steal; to rip off.

    slang · transitive
  12. To move or act fast; to rush headlong.

  13. To tear up for search or disclosure, or for alteration; to search to the bottom; to discover; to disclose; usually with up.

    archaic
  14. To surf extremely well.

    intransitive · slang
  15. To be very good; rock

    intransitive · slang
Where this word comes from

From Middle English rippen, from earlier ryppen (“to pluck”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *rupjaną, *ruppōną, intensive of *raupijaną, causative of Proto-Indo-European *roub- ~ *reub-, variant of *Hrewp- (“to break”). See also West Frisian rippe, ripje, roppe, ropje (“to rip”), Dutch dialectal rippen, Low German ruppen, German Low German röpen, German rupfen, also Old English rīpan, rīepan (“to plunder”), West Frisian rippe (“to rip, tear”), German raufen (“to rip”); also Albanian rrabe ‘maquis’, possibly Latin rubus (“bramble”). More at reave, rob.

noun/ɹɪp/
  1. A tear (in paper, etc.).

  2. A type of strong, rough tide or current. A rip current: a strong outflow of surface water, away from the shore, that returns water from incoming waves.

    Australia · New-Zealand
  3. A type of strong, rough tide or current. A tract of broken water (in a river or stream), particularly one which is not as rough as rapids.

    in-plural
  4. A comical, embarrassing, or hypocritical event or action.

    slang
  5. A hit (dose) of marijuana.

    slang
  6. A black mark given for substandard schoolwork.

    UK
  7. Something unfairly expensive, a rip-off.

    slang
  8. Data or audio copied from a CD, DVD, Internet stream, etc. to a hard drive, portable device, etc.

    slang
    Some of these CD rips don't sound very good: what bitrate did you use?
  9. Data or audio copied from a CD, DVD, Internet stream, etc. to a hard drive, portable device, etc. Ellipsis of high quality rip.

    Internet · abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis · slang
  10. A fart.

    slang
  11. Something ripped off or stolen; a work resulting from plagiarism.

    slang
  12. A kind of glissando leading up to the main note to be played.

    informal
  13. Ellipsis of ripsaw (“saw for cutting wood along its grain”).

    abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis
  14. A joyride.

    Canada · slang
Where this word comes from

From Middle English rippen, from earlier ryppen (“to pluck”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *rupjaną, *ruppōną, intensive of *raupijaną, causative of Proto-Indo-European *roub- ~ *reub-, variant of *Hrewp- (“to break”). See also West Frisian rippe, ripje, roppe, ropje (“to rip”), Dutch dialectal rippen, Low German ruppen, German Low German röpen, German rupfen, also Old English rīpan, rīepan (“to plunder”), West Frisian rippe (“to rip, tear”), German raufen (“to rip”); also Albanian rrabe ‘maquis’, possibly Latin rubus (“bramble”). More at reave, rob.

noun/ɹɪp/
  1. A worthless horse; a nag.

    colloquial · dated · regional
  2. An immoral man; a rake, a scoundrel.

    colloquial · dated · regional
Where this word comes from

Uncertain; perhaps a variant of rep (“reprobate”).

noun/ɹɪp/
  1. A handful of unthreshed grain.

    Scotland
intj/ɹɪp/
  1. Alternative letter-case form of RIP.

    Internet · alt-of
    lmfao rip your dms
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.