noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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jawbonesimple
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jawbonessimple
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have jawbonedperfect
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has jawbonedperfect
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am jawboningprogressive
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are jawboningprogressive
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is jawboningprogressive
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have been jawboningperfect progressive
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has been jawboningperfect progressive
Past
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jawbonedsimple
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had jawbonedperfect
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was jawboningprogressive
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were jawboningprogressive
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had been jawboningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jawbone
Explanation
To jawbone is to talk informally. Think "schmooze," "talk up," or "chit chat;" it's a word to use when the act of talking is more important than what's being talked about. In a financial or political context, jawboning is a form of persuasion. When Lyndon B. Johnson attempted to jawbone rising interest-rates in 1966, he was attempting to change the behavior of the markets without taking direct action. Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fireside Chats can be seen as jawboning as well, as FDR enlisted support first for New Deal programs and then for the US role in World War II through informal, friendly radio-broadcast "chats."
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:
He removed the tumour and part of the diseased jawbone, but the electrochemotherapy was administered to target any remaining cancerous cells.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
“As we discovered more and more bones, especially the jawbone, we realized this is definitely human,” Lindsey Melvin told the station.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
“If the Fed chair has the ability to try to jawbone those lower and provide some assurances,” he said, “I do think that would also provide the tailwind.”
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 10, 2026
The upper jawbone fossil, found during a guided walk along the Lyme Regis shore in Dorset, is thought to be one of only 11 found from the animal.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
She relished reporting the Fourth of July Toast: “John Adams. May he, like Samson, slay thousands of Frenchmen with the jawbone of Jefferson.”
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Real jawbones of dead whales were first raised on top of West Cliff in 1964 as a symbol of Whitby's maritime heritage.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Several jawbones contained smooth deposits inside their empty tooth sockets that looked different from naturally accumulated sediment.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026
In the decades since, scientists have unearthed about 2,000 Gigantopithecus teeth and a handful of fossil jawbones from caves throughout southern China.
From New York Times ● Jan. 10, 2024
The fossils Miller and her colleagues used in their study include many teeth and some jawbones but unfortunately no complete skeletons.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 25, 2023
Her forehead is high and smooth, her jawbones sloping and unusually long.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
The meeting is the latest sign of Trump's uncommon degree of intervention for a U.S. president into corporate affairs as he has repeatedly jawboned automakers and other manufacturers to "buy American and hire American."
From Reuters ● Jan. 24, 2017
He argued calls, jawboned umps, ran the base paths as aggressively—and menacingly—as any opposing player who’d ever tried to knock him down or spike him on a slide.
From Time ● Apr. 15, 2016
In 1995, he jawboned his way into a Smithsonian internship.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 12, 2016
Hoover jawboned businesses to prevent them from cutting workers' wages.
From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2011
During 1969, says Okun, prices in those formerly jawboned industries rose 6%, v. a 3.5% rise for other industrials.
From Time Magazine Archive
Another, says Nuttall, is that constant jawboning about deals has led to several price plunges, making traders cautious.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Notably, it has not been adjudicated whether or not the FCC has crossed the line into jawboning.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
Neither Modi’s jawboning nor an estimated $100 billion in Reserve Bank of India intervention has stemmed the decline so far, though, says Venkat Pasupuleti, portfolio manager for India at Dalton Investments.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
Oil dropped on these remarks on Tuesday and equities bounced — even though the president was just jawboning.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 11, 2026
This consolidation piece is happening at the same time as the jawboning piece.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2025
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.
