noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
jawbonesimple
-
jawbonessimple
-
have jawbonedperfect
-
has jawbonedperfect
-
am jawboningprogressive
-
are jawboningprogressive
-
is jawboningprogressive
-
have been jawboningperfect progressive
-
has been jawboningperfect progressive
Past
-
jawbonedsimple
-
had jawbonedperfect
-
was jawboningprogressive
-
were jawboningprogressive
-
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.
“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
Another excavation by the researchers in June 2023 -- of an 8,100-year-old canine jawbone at a nearby site called Hollembaek Hill, south of Delta Junction -- also shows signs of possible domestication.
From Science Daily • Dec. 4, 2024
She told MPs that this included a “foetal skeleton posed under a glass dome, a human thigh bone turned into a cane, a human jawbone necklace and the varnished skull of a six-year-old”.
From BBC • Nov. 20, 2024
Forensic genealogists solve a 21-year-old case, linking a jawbone to a U.S.
From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2024
Don’t tell the dangwallet or she’ll jawbone about the cost of the flowers.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
