Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense yawns, present participle yawning, past tense, past participle yawned
1. verb
If you yawn, you open your mouth very wide and breathe in more air than usual, often when you are tired or when you are not interested in something.
She yawned, and stretched lazily. [VERB]
They looked bored and yawned at the speeches. [VERB]
Yawn is also a noun.
Rosanna stifled a huge yawn.
2. singular noun
If you describe something such as a book or a film as a yawn, you think it is very boring.
[informal]
The debate was a mockery. A big yawn.
The concert was a predictable yawn.
3. verb
A gap or an opening that yawns is large and wide, and often frightening.
[literary]
The gulf between them yawned wider than ever. [VERB]
Liddie's doorway yawned blackly open at the end of the hall. [VERB adjective]
Synonyms: gape, open, split More Synonyms of yawn
yawn in British English
(jɔːn)
verb
1. (intransitive)
to open the mouth wide and take in air deeply, often as in involuntary reaction to tiredness, sleepiness, or boredom
2. (transitive)
to express or utter while yawning
3. (intransitive)
to be open wide as if threatening to engulf (someone or something)
the mine shaft yawned below
noun
4.
the act or an instance of yawning
Derived forms
yawner (ˈyawner)
noun
yawning (ˈyawning)
adjective
yawningly (ˈyawningly)
adverb
Word origin
Old English gionian; related to Old Saxon ginōn, Old High German ginēn to yawn, Old Norse gjā gap
yawn in American English
(jɔn)
verb intransitive
1.
to open the mouth wide, esp. involuntarily, and breathe in deeply, as a result offatigue, drowsiness, or boredom
2.
to be or become wide open; gape
a yawning chasm
verb transitive
3.
to express or utter with a yawn
noun
4.
an act of yawning or opening wide
5.
a wide opening; chasm
Word origin
ME yanen, prob. merging OE ginian & ganian, to gape, akin to Ger gähnen < IE base *ĝhei-, to gape, prob. echoic of the yawning sound > Gr chainein, L hiare, to gape
Examples of 'yawn' in a sentence
yawn
Equality experts also argue that it could help close the yawning pay gap between men and women.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
You have to stifle a yawn as you inhale its stultifying atmosphere.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
But there is a yawning gap in timing between what he would love to happen tomorrow and what is still the case.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
And in that respect there's a yawning gap in average British lives.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The cracks in your relationship are yawning too wide.
The Sun (2013)
This yawning gulf between their reality and ours is a very modern concern.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
You will be able to see where the yawning gaps are up ahead.
Ingham, Christine Life Without Work (1994)
That fanned fears that decisive action may be less likely to address the yawning budget deficit.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
This yawning chasm between intent and action is because we are busy.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
This channel usually remains closed and only opens when you yawn or swallow.
The Sun (2009)
This generation gap between older and younger men is an increasingly yawning chasm.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
And beware anyone caught yawning in the open air.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The resulting democratic deficit is yawning.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Next, you give a huge yawn.
The Sun (2008)
This explains why on a given Sunday the sermon is a wide yawn for many.
Christianity Today (2000)
It didn't feel like the terrible yawning gulf that it is now.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The 11-year-old made no effort to stifle a wide yawn as she rocked forward in her chair and stared at the ground.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
And slowly, yawning and stretching, the man awoke.
E. Nesbit The Railway Children (1906)
Sad to say, it's hard not to stifle a yawn.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
In other languages
yawn
British English: yawn /jɔːn/ VERB
If you yawn, you open your mouth very wide and breathe in more air than usual, often when you are tired or when you are not interested in something.
She yawned, and stretched lazily.
American English: yawn
Arabic: يَتَثَاءَبُ
Brazilian Portuguese: bocejar
Chinese: 打哈欠
Croatian: zijevati
Czech: zívat
Danish: gabe
Dutch: gapen
European Spanish: bostezar
Finnish: haukotella
French: bailler
German: gähnen
Greek: χασμουριέμαι
Italian: sbadigliare
Japanese: あくびをする
Korean: 하품하다
Norwegian: gjespe
Polish: ziewnąć
European Portuguese: bocejar
Romanian: a căsca
Russian: зевать
Latin American Spanish: bostezar
Swedish: gäspa
Thai: หาว
Turkish: esnemek
Ukrainian: позіхати
Vietnamese: ngáp
(verb)
Definition
to be open wide as if threatening to engulf someone or something
The gulf between them yawned wider than ever.
Synonyms
gape
A hole gaped in the roof.
open
The ground opened beneath his feet.
split
In a severe gale the ship split in two.
Additional synonyms
in the sense of open
Definition
to make or become open
The ground opened beneath his feet.
Synonyms
split,
break,
separate,
crack,
burst,
break up,
give way,
gape,
rupture,
come apart,
opN
in the sense of split
Definition
to break or cause (something) to break into separate pieces