gape
Americanverb (used without object)
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gapes,
present (3rd person singular)
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gaped,
past participle, past
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gaping
present participle
noun
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a wide opening; gap; breach.
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an act or instance of gaping.
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a stare, as in astonishment or with the mouth wide open.
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a yawn.
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Zoology. the width of the open mouth.
verb
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to stare in wonder or amazement, esp with the mouth open
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to open the mouth wide, esp involuntarily, as in yawning or hunger
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to be or become wide open
the crater gaped under his feet
noun
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the act of gaping
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a wide opening; breach
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the width of the widely opened mouth of a vertebrate
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a stare or expression of astonishment
Synonym Usage
See gaze.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gapesimple
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gapessimple
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have gapedperfect
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has gapedperfect
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am gapingprogressive
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are gapingprogressive
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is gapingprogressive
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have been gapingperfect progressive
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has been gapingperfect progressive
Past
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gapedsimple
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had gapedperfect
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was gapingprogressive
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were gapingprogressive
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had been gapingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gape
1175–1225; Middle English, from Old Norse gapa “to open the mouth wide”; compare German gaffen
Explanation
If Bigfoot walked down your street wearing a tutu, you might gape or stare at the man-ape with your mouth open. You'd really gape if the tutu had a gaping, or wide open, hole. Gape is closely related to the word, gap, which means a space between things. When you gape at something, there is a lot of space between your teeth because your mouth is open in disbelief. You'll often hear mothers telling children not to gape. The fact is it's rude to stare at someone that way, even if they are a Sasquatch on the way to dance class.
Vocabulary lists containing gape
List 5
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Dear Martin
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But the company's wholesale volumes for the whole year were still down 9% at 6,030 cars, pushing its pre-tax losses to gape by a further 21% to £289 million.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2025
Scientology remains this subgenre’s biggest recurring star, even as we seasonally gape at and praise the high-power talent that legitimizes it.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2024
One would expect a more forceful reaction, but Margaret does little more than gape and then move on.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 5, 2024
As geology fans gape at video feeds that show incandescent rocks blowing from El Popo’s peak, those who live along its flanks have watched with respect and a noteworthy lack of trepidation.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2023
All along the benches men put down their cups and spoons to turn and gape at the grisly spectacle.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
The crater gapes at about 13 miles wide and 2.6 miles deep.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 21, 2023
The line of the river now gapes like an open wound, perhaps a hundred metres across in places.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2023
When pipes experience a catastrophic failure, the breach typically is much bigger, what’s referred to in the industry as a "fish mouth" rupture because it gapes wide like the mouth of a fish, he said.
From Fox News ● Oct. 8, 2021
Mr. Bourgeois’s trim white beard dips and rises as his jaw begins to work, and then his mouth gapes once, a wide, ghastly gulp for air.
From New York Times ● Dec. 17, 2020
She wears a flowered dress with a pinafore and her mouth gapes, a toothless black hole.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
Customers have gaped at his portion sizes, he said—one woman ordered a plate of nachos and consumed roughly four bites.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
Far out in the desert, the researchers gaped at the six-foot-long femur, the jaw, teeth, and base of the crest.
From Barron's ● Feb. 27, 2026
Members of a nearby church stood and gaped.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2024
Anyone who has ever gaped through a gym’s plate-glass window or nodded off to a late-night infomercial has become familiar with the contraptions.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2023
But Chaol only gaped at the flailing assassin, his face pale as death.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
He discussed feeling immense grief and how that grief can leave a gaping hole.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
The 55,000-square-foot hall, lit by gaping skylights in its 75-foot-high ceilings, reopened last November as Ballers, a sports club that has three glass-and-mesh-enclosed padel courts, along with golf simulators and courts for squash and pickleball.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
But the festival's fallow year has left a gaping hole in the summer music calendar.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
While health insurance and long-term-care coverage helps, gaping financial holes can still remain.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026
He shoves the headphones over my ears and does this giant, gaping yawn.
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
