Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

rip van winkle

/ˌrɪp van ˈwɪŋk(ə)l/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.69 in modern English

Syllables: rip -van win-kle
IPA: /ˌrɪp van ˈwɪŋk(ə)l/

24

Scrabble Score

12

Letters

3

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

name

A Dutch-American villager who falls asleep for 20 years and wakes up to a changed world, having missed the American Revolution; (by extension) someone or something stuck in the past.

American usage

Example Sentences

"That is, it makes a lot of sense to see Biden’s problems getting his plans across the finish line as being caused by the Rip Van Winkle caucus, Democrats who checked out intellectually a couple of decades ago and haven’t caught up with America as it now is."
"The characters do seem Rip Van Winkle-like, as they stumble upon and blink in amazement at very unsurprising things. “Wow! Instagram? Podcasts?” marvels Miranda at some of Carrie’s latest endeavors, as if these were edgy new enterprises."
"A Tory Rip Van Winkle waking from decades of sleep to look round that cabinet table now would be aghast."

Etymology

From The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent by Washington Irving (1819).

Usage

American usage

Phrases

Rip Van Winkledom Rip Van Winkleish Rip Van Winklesque

Questions

How do you pronounce rip van winkle?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˌrɪp van ˈwɪŋk(ə)l/.
What does rip van winkle mean?: A Dutch-American villager who falls asleep for 20 years and wakes up to a changed world, having missed the American Revolution; (by extension) someone or something stuck in the past.
Where does rip van winkle come from?: From The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent by Washington Irving (1819).

How to pronounce rip van winkle

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