yawning

[yaw-ning]

adjective

1. being or standing wide open; gaping.

   the yawning mouth of a cave.

2. indicating by yawns one's weariness or indifference.

   The lecturer was oblivious to his yawning audience.

Other Word Forms

• yawningly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of yawning¹

before 900; Middle English; Old English geniendum. See yawn, -ing ²

Example Sentences

In the sea of vendor pop-ups, Mac Miller’s yawning face, the cover of his 2015 release “GO:OD AM,” stood tall.

Read more on 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.

Read more on Barron's

The party, after all, has a yawning generation gap that has stymied younger politicians from attaining power, ascending to leadership and freshening Democrats’ image and agenda.

Read more on Salon

Day turned to night, and the wolves started yawning.

Read more on Literature

The government is scrambling to implement spending cuts and push through measures to narrow this yawning budget deficit to under 5% of gross domestic product.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• broad 
• buried 
• deep-seated 
• far 
• profound 
• rooted 
• wide