Showing results for "yawning"

• present participle of yawn.

yawning

American  

[yaw-ning] / ˈjɔ nɪŋ /

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.

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Other Word Forms

• yawningly
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of yawning

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

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Explanation

Yawning is what happens when you reflexively open your mouth wide, inhale, and exhale again. Most yawning is caused by sleepiness or extreme boredom. Use the word yawning for actual yawning — or to mean "wide open." A yawning chasm in the ground is a huge, wide gap, and a yawning hole in a movie's plot is the obvious space where some details are missing, making the resulting story seem unlikely and unbelievable. A yawning child, on the other hand, is probably just ready for her nap.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

yawning

Maya and James A were left yawning ever more widely in the desperate hope that the other two would join in, before the credits rolled.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

Before the advent of yawning, warehouse-sized big-box stores, print catalogs served as portals to the future.

From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026

“Even if inflation does move considerably toward the target, certain fundamentals that were already underpinning longer term rates remain in place, such as record-level borrowing by the U.S. and yawning budget gaps,” he says.

From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026

The yawning gap between the policy preferences of elites and those of rank-and-file blacks remains today, but it was just as obvious three decades ago.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026

“I feel so weird,” said Pong, yawning over a plate of garlicky clams.

From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat

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Related Words

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

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