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:
Even when treatment is attempted, the underlying jawbone may continue to deteriorate.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026
An amateur fossil hunter's discovery of a 200-million-year-old fish jawbone has helped solve two centuries of "confusion" over the origins of fossils across Europe, palaeontologists say.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
Nor is he using “forward guidance” to jawbone markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Lindsey and Lynette Melvin told the news station they first thought they were digging up bones of a bighorn sheep until they came across the jawbone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
She is close enough that I can see the small pink veins, like seams on the back of a delicate leaf, spreading across her cheeks, the downy fur on her jawbone, her bristly black eyebrows.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
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
As their excavation continued, the team found eight more similar jawbones, each about six inches long.
From Science Daily ● May 1, 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
A digital comparison of the newly uncovered mandible with 83 other jawbones confirmed a strange mix of ancient and modern anatomical features.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 19, 2023
Some of them had the beginnings of beards, straggly tufts of hair that stood in isolated clumps on their chins, jawbones, and upper lips.
From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
And where he lacks legislative authority, the president has jawboned corporate executives to cut drug prices, airline fees and the cost of internet access.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 6, 2023
Just as in his ad against Cruz, Davis' monologue in "Bernie" occurred while he wore casual clothes and jawboned at a local barbecue establishment.
From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2018
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
Okun figures that between 1966 and 1968, wholesale prices rose an average 2.3% a year for most industries; they went up only 1.7% in 15 "jawboned" industries, including steel, copper, autos and aluminum.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
The jawboning by finance officials appears to have delivered the same result as actually intervening in the market—at least for now.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
This consolidation piece is happening at the same time as the jawboning piece.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2025
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
