agape

From a- +‎ gape. First known use by John Milton in Paradise Lost (1667).

• (UK, US) enPR: ə-gāpʹ; IPA^(key): /əˈɡeɪp/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪp

agape (comparative more agape, superlative most agape)

1. In a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention; as with mouth hanging open.

   Synonyms: open-mouthed, dumbstruck, wide-eyed, agog, catching flies

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost‎, London, Book 5, lines 353-357:

     […] in himself was all his state,
     More solemn then the tedious pomp that waits
     On Princes, when thir rich Retinue long
     Of Horses led, and Grooms besmeard with Gold
     Dazles the croud, and sets them all agape.

   • 1923, Arthur Michael Samuel, “Roubiliac (1695-1762)”, in The Mancroft essays, page 159:

     There I stand, agape like any country bumpkin

   • 1980, Joel Flegler, Fanfare, volume 3, numbers 4-6, page 198:

     That's all well and good; one can sit, agape, reading the copious liner notes to this or any Explorer record, but it's what's inside the jacket that counts.

   • 1996, Lech J. Majewski with Julian Schnabel, Basquiat:

     The restaurant staff and OTHER DINNER GUESTS watch, agape.

2. Wide open.

   Synonyms: agog, catching flies

   • 1874, Marcus Clarke, chapter VIII, in For the Term of His Natural Life:

     With his mouth agape and his hands clenched, Rufus Dawes, incapable of further speech, made a last effort to nod assent, but his head fell upon his breast; the next moment, the flickering light, the gloomy prison, the eager face of the doctor, and the astonished face of Vickers, vanished from before his straining eyes.

   • 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:

     He tries not to tear his victim's stockings, or whip too close to her stretched vulva, which shivers, unprotected, between thighs agape and straining, amid movements of muscle erotic, subdued, “monumental” as any silver memory of her body on film.

   • 1995 September 24, “Stop Me If Yov've Heard this One”, in Washington Post:

     In the last frame, he throws back his head and wails, his mouth agape.

   • 1996 August 2, “Johnson can fly, and he does it without wings”, in Chicago Sun-Times:

     With dropped jaws and eyes agape, a world beholds the blur of Michael Johnson

   • 2004, Jeffrey C. Carrier, John A. Musick, Michael R. Heithaus, Biology of Sharks and their Relatives, page 171:

     If the slightly agape mouth is closed prior to mouth opening, this is termed the preparatory phase and is more common in suction-feeding bony fishes than elasmobranchs.

   • 2023 August 7, Suzanne Wrack, “England beat Nigeria on penalties to reach Women’s World Cup quarter-finals”, in The Guardian‎:

     Mouths were agape on the announcement of England’s starting lineup, the return of Keira Walsh appearing miraculous 10 days after she left the pitch on a stretcher in agony.

• Almost always used after a noun or noun phrase it modifies.

agape (comparative more agape, superlative most agape)

1. In a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention.
   • 1987 June 26, “On the Prowl in Grizzly Country”, in Chicago Tribune:

     Three of us--two biologists and I--were crouched behind a huge boulder at the water's edge and staring agape as the largest bear I ever saw came toward us

   • 2005 September 24, “Angry Surfers Say Cage-Diving Changes Great White's Way”, in Wall Street Journal:

     "This is Sammy 91," he told the two dozen tourists watching agape."

   • 2008 January 8, “Reading gets the glitzy treatment”, in BBC News:

     One features a science teacher looking agape at the camera which has caught him reading red-handed.

2. Open wide.
   • 1911 January 7, “The Man-killer”, in Poverty Bay Herald:

     Its mouth yawned agape

   • 1996, Perri O'Shaughnessy, Invasion of Privacy, page 508:

     The bathroom door stood agape, and the peeling vinyl floor was bare.

   • 2005, Terry Goodkind, Chainfire, page 427:

     He glanced up into Richard's eyes, his own wide with wonder, his mouth hanging agape.

Agape, or Love-feast (from Roller's Catacombes de Rome).

From Ancient Greek ἀγάπη (agápē).

• enPR: ə-gäʹpā; IPA^(key): /əˈɡɑː.peɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• enPR: ăgʹä-pā'; IPA^(key): /ˈæɡ.ɑˌpeɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• enPR: ăgʹə-pē; IPA^(key): /ˈæɡ.ə.pi/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• enPR: ăgʹə-pā'; IPA^(key): /ˈæɡ.əˌpeɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

agape (countable and uncountable, plural agapae or agapai)

1. (uncountable, Christianity) The love of God for mankind, or the benevolent love of Christians for others.

   Synonym: charity

2. (uncountable) Spiritual, altruistic, beneficial love which wills good for others.
3. (countable) A love feast, especially one held in the early Christian Church in connection with the Eucharist.

• agape on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “agape”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “agape”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

agape f (definite articulation agapea)

1. Alternative form of agapi

• Audio

  (file)

agape f (plural agapes)

1. (Christianity) agape

• “agape”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From Ancient Greek ἀγάπη (agápē, “love; the love between man and God; Christian love feasts”).

• IPA^(key): /aɡape/
• Hyphenation: a‧ga‧pé

agapé

1. (Catholicism) agape, love; the love between man and God; Christian love feasts.

• “agape” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

From Ancient Greek ἀγάπη (agápē, “love; the love between man and God; Christian love feasts”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.ɡa.peː/, [ˈäɡäpeː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.ɡa.pe/, [ˈäːɡäpe]

agapē f (genitive agapēs); first declension

1. agape (Christian love or charity)
2. agape (the "love feast" of the early Christian Church)

First-declension noun (Greek-type).

• → German: Agape
• → Polish: agape
• Portuguese: ágape
• Spanish: ágape

• “agape”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• agape in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

Learned borrowing from Latin agapē. Doublet of agapa.

• IPA^(key): /aˈɡa.pɛ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -apɛ
• Syllabification: a‧ga‧pe
• Homophone: agapę

agape f (indeclinable)

1. (Christianity) agape (love feast, especially one held in the early Christian Church in connection with the Eucharist)

   Synonym: agapa

2. (Christianity) agape (love of God for mankind, or the benevolent love of Christians for others)

   Synonym: agapa

3. (philosophy) agape (spiritual, altruistic, beneficial love which wills good for others)

   Synonym: agapa

• agape in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• agape in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• agape in PWN's encyclopedia