bodice ripper

1. 1.

   a romantic novel containing scenes in which the heroine is sexually violated

   Broaderromance

Questions about bodice ripper

What does bodice ripper mean?

bodice ripper means "a romantic novel containing scenes in which the heroine is sexually violated".

Is bodice ripper a common word?

bodice ripper is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.