yawning

[yaw-ning]

adjective

1. being or standing wide open; gaping.

   the yawning mouth of a cave.

2. indicating by yawns one's weariness or indifference.

   The lecturer was oblivious to his yawning audience.

Other Word Forms

• yawningly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of yawning¹

before 900; Middle English; Old English geniendum. See yawn, -ing ²

Example Sentences

But the emotional distance yawning between them is palpable.

Read more on Salon

"Dear me," Si says simply, before turning away, too overwhelmed by the "big yawning gap" in the landscape.

Read more on BBC

Like he would start yawning and start throwing around different things.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

I notice two guests, both with their eyes closed, yawning as Cowboy rubs his muzzle along the fence.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

It’s fun to read, for sure, but there’s also a yawning pit of despair sitting beneath the narrator’s alternating tones of glib humor and seething rage.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• broad 
• buried 
• deep-seated 
• far 
• profound 
• rooted 
• wide