to ape
- verb
- /eɪp/
- The comedian was known to ape famous actors in a hilarious manner during his stand-up routine.
And I watched Fantasy Island to ape Ricardo Montalban because I love the way he talked.
- And I watched Fantasy Island to ape Ricardo Montalban because I love the way he talked.
- And it's just it's it's just aping the English language form showing that people go crazy for it.
Examples
-
Stop traipsing around the world, aping the Holy Ghost.
-
l must say, Apollo... the way you ape human behavior is remarkable.
-
It's as if men like Trump are simply aping lines that they think will hurt a woman.
Blog text (3) -
But if you want to be a star, why bother aping records?
Fiction book (1993) -
All people have to do is ape us perfectly, and there'll be no problem.
Blog text (34) -
And I watched Fantasy Island to ape Ricardo Montalban because I love the way he talked.
-
Depending on the day, John could be aping James Bond, Ronald Reagan, or Humphrey Bogart.
Academic text (2007) -
Children often ape their parents, mimicking the words they say and the things they do.
-
During the play, the actor aped his character's accent to emphasize the humor in the scene.
Synonyms
To copy someone's actions or voice to make people laugh
To draw or act like someone while making their features bigger to be funny
To copy someone's actions to make a joke
Antonyms
Compounds
A large animal like a gorilla or orangutan with no tail and closely related to humans
- UK
A monkey without a tail that lives on rocky cliffs and in forests of northwest Africa and Gibraltar
- Specialized
A large tailless animal like a gorilla or chimpanzee that is more like humans than other monkeys
How Close
Surface Forms
Etymology
Ape as a verb comes from the animal name ape because people saw apes copying people, so to ape someone is 'to copy' them, often in a mocking or unoriginal way.