yawn
/jɔːn
/verb
1 [no object] Involuntarily open one’s mouth wide and inhale deeply due to tiredness or boredom: he began yawning and looking at his watch...
- Tinara opened her mouth to reply, but she suddenly put a hand to her mouth and yawned.
- Alexis felt a compelling need to yawn but as she opened her mouth the arm tightened.
- As it hits the back of your mouth or throat try yawning, as this action will open up your throat.
2 (usually as adjective yawning) Be wide open: a yawning chasm...
- She would have to pass through great agony to become a part of the great yawning nothingness.
- Does one plug on, rounding out characters, filling in the yawning chasms in the plot?
- The void between rich and poor is now a yawning chasm and home ownership is but a dream for most young couples.
Synonyms
gaping, wide open, wide, cavernous, deep;
large, huge, great, big
rare chasmal
noun
1A reflex act of opening one’s mouth wide and inhaling deeply due to tiredness or boredom: he stretches and stifles a yawn...
- Hugh Bradley was in the pool recently and said the two boys had yawns as wide as a hippopotamus' mouth.
- I tried not to show my boredom, but my yawns were coming quicker and quicker.
- And, since the good jokes don't come until the final third, a lot of yawns will have to be stifled.
1.1 [in singular] informal A thing that is considered boring or tedious: the film is just one big yawn...
- How are you going to get big voter turnout when everybody seems to think these elections are a big yawn?
- Because the dirty little secret is that most Americans still greet the MLS with a big yawn.
- It happened 15 years ago and it's been either a big yawn or a big laugh ever since.
Derivatives
yawningly
- Still, it wasn't unusual for a typical pattern to arise, almost yawningly predictable.
- As ever, the building's the Star, the exhibits yawningly, unyieldingly tiresome.
- Rashly, Theresa accepts a second date with Tony at which the gulf between them becomes yawningly apparent.
Origin
Old English geonian, of Germanic origin, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin hiare and Greek khainein. Current noun senses date from the early 18th century.