Agape

WOTD - 1 October 2009    

English

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: əgāp´, IPA: /əˈɡeɪp/, SAMPA: /@"geIp/

• Audio (US)	noicon
  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪp

Adjective

Agape (comparative {{{1}}}, superlative {{{2}}})

Positive Agape

Comparative {{{1}}}

Superlative {{{2}}}

1. Being in a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention; as with mouth hanging open.
   • 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, vol. 3, 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, Julian Schnabel, Basquiat:

     The restaurant staff and OTHER DINNER GUESTS watch, agape.

2. open wide.
   • 1995 Sep 24, “Stop Me If Yov've Heard this One”, 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”, 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.

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

• (being in a state of astonishment): dumbstruck, agog
• (open wide): ajar, open, agog

Translations

astonished

open

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Adverb

Agape (comparative {{{1}}}, superlative {{{2}}})

Positive Agape

Comparative {{{1}}}

Superlative {{{2}}}

1. In a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention.
   • 1987 Jun 26, “On the Prowl in Grizzly Country”, 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 Sep 24, “Angry Surfers Say Cage-Diving Changes Great White's Way”, Wall Street Journal:

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

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

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

2. open wide.
   • 1911 Jan 7, “The Man-killer”, 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.

Translations

with astonishment

open

Etymology 2

From Ancient Greek ἀγάπη

Pronunciation

• enPR: ägä´pā, IPA: /əˈɡɑːpeɪ/, SAMPA: /A:"gA:peI/

Noun

Singular Agape

Plural agapae

Agape (agapae)

1. Template:Christianity the asexual love of God or Christ for mankind, or the asexual love of Christians for others.
2. asexual, spiritual love.
3. a love feast, especially one held in the early Christian Church in connection with the eucharist.

Translations

Christianity: love

asexual love

feast

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Spanish: ágape

References

• File:Wikipedia-logo.png Agape on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “agape” in The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
• “agape” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.

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Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀγάπη (agapē), “‘love; the love between man and God; Christian love feasts’”)

Noun

agapē (genitive agapēs); f, first declension

1. Christian love or charity.
2. The love feast of the early Christian Church; agape.

Inflection

Template:La-decl-1st-Greek

de:agape el:agape fr:agape io:agape no:agape pl:agape ru:agape sv:agape ta:agape te:agape vi:agape tr:agape