Rapers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who commit sexual assault by forcing someone to engage in non-consensual sexual acts ; or persons who capture or seize something violently or aggressively ; plural form referring to those who perform rapid speech or musical vocalizations
2. People who perpetrate sexual violence by coercing another into sexual activity ; or actors who aggressively take possession of something by force ; plural term for multiple performers delivering rhythmic and rhyming speech in music
3. Offenders who engage in unlawful sexual acts imposed on victims without consent ; or entities who seize or appropriate by force or threat ; plural noun for several individuals skilled in delivering rhymed spoken lyrics quickly and rhythmically

Etymology: "Rapers" is the plural of "raper," an agent noun built by adding the suffix "-er" to "rape." The suffix comes down through Middle English and Old English from a Latin ending, "-arius," which named a person connected with a thing or activity. That suffix is shared by many ordinary English agent nouns, so the formation itself is entirely regular. The harder question is which sense of "rape" the base comes from, and the source leaves this open. English "rape" has several distinct origins: one meaning "to ravish" or seize by force, another meaning a tract of land, another "haste," another a plant, and another a kind of fruit. Because of this, the word's ancestry is best read through the base it attaches to rather than through any single root. The three senses listed for "rapers" reflect this range: sexual violence, forcibly taking possession of something, and a plural term for performers of rhythmic, rhyming speech in music. The last of these is a modern usage that the base word alone does not explain.

Synonyms: assailants, attackers, offenders, perpetrators, molesters

Antonyms: victims, defenders, protectors, guardians, saviors