yawned; yawning; yawns
1
: to open wide : gape
2
: to open the mouth wide and take a deep breath usually as an involuntary reaction to fatigue or boredom
1
: to utter with a yawn
2
: to accomplish with or impel by yawns
his grandchildren yawned him to bed—
L. L. King
L. L. King2
: an opening of the mouth wide while taking a deep breath often as an involuntary reaction to fatigue or boredom
also
: a reaction resembling a yawn
a … success at the box office but drew only yawns from critics —Current Biography
Current Biography 3
: bore entry 5
this book is kind of a yawn—Ilene L. Cooper
Ilene L. CooperSynonyms
Examples of yawn in a Sentence
Verb
Students were yawning in class.
Noun
I tried to stifle a yawn.
as neither candidate was willing to make an unequivocal statement about anything, the debate proved to be a complete yawn
Recent Examples on the Web
Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 25 Sep. 2024
Instead of a yawning gender gap, exit polls showed a real but not determinative disparity between how men and women voted.
—Pamela Paul, The Mercury News, 8 Nov. 2024
Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2024
That meant a lot of teeth for a character who sings, screams, and yawns over the course of the classic film.
—Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 8 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for yawn 
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Verb
The family’s big, yawning estate on Nantucket is attractively, if coldly, decorated for the occasion.
—Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 25 Sep. 2024
Instead of a yawning gender gap, exit polls showed a real but not determinative disparity between how men and women voted.
—Pamela Paul, The Mercury News, 8 Nov. 2024
Noun
When the full range of approaches to the symphony is considered, an ever more drastic divide yawns.
—Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2024
That meant a lot of teeth for a character who sings, screams, and yawns over the course of the classic film.
—Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 8 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for yawn
Articles Related to yawn
Dictionary Entries Near yawn
Cite this Entry
“Yawn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yawn. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.
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Medical Definition
yawn
1 of 2 intransitive verb
: to open the mouth wide and take a deep breath usually as an involuntary reaction to fatigue or boredom
yawn
2 of 2 noun
: an opening of the mouth wide while taking a deep breath often as an involuntary reaction to fatigue or boredom
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