yawning
Americanadjective
-
being or standing wide open; gaping.
the yawning mouth of a cave.
-
indicating by yawns one's weariness or indifference.
The lecturer was oblivious to his yawning audience.
Other Word Forms
- yawningly adverb
Etymology
Origin of yawning
before 900; Middle English; Old English geniendum. See yawn, -ing 2
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.
I expected frustration in that yawning gap between memory and present ability, but instead, it was exhilarating.
From Salon
Nothing much happens, until the segment’s finale introduces a twist that suggests the yawning chasm between what we think we know about our parents and what the truth of their lives is.
From Los Angeles Times
In a bid to plug the yawning gap, the European Commission, the EU's executive, has put forward a plan to tap some 210 billion euros of Russian central bank assets frozen in the bloc.
From Barron's
In the sea of vendor pop-ups, Mac Miller’s yawning face, the cover of his 2015 release “GO:OD AM,” stood tall.
From Los Angeles Times
The stock market has hit a speed bump, not a yawning vortex of doom, as investors question the valuations of top tech and artificial intelligence stocks.
From Barron's
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.
