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😮‍💨 A wide yawn 🕳️ Very wide open 😪 Mouth wide open
yawning

yawning

6.2
Very wide open, like a hole that could swallow something
  • adjective
  • /ˈjɔːnɪŋ/
translation icon : abierto de par en par
  • As I looked out at the yawning chasm, I felt a thrill of fear and excitement.

Bullies come from a deep, yawning cavern of insecurity.

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Examples

  • So we're getting better, but we still have this enormous yawning military civilian divide.

    Big Think

  • The "nothing more" that you dismiss is a huge, yawning, logical gulf.

    Blog text (26)

  • In most of those seasons, he was three-plus WAR better than the actual MVP, and this was the most yawning gap of them all.

    Blog text (9)

  • Another rolls over close to our ship; hanging from its side is a huge, yawning slab of blubber, perhaps eight inches thick and as big as a queen-size mattress.

    Academic text (1998)

  • A huge and yawning cavern seemed to invite explorers into its depths.

  • The yawning gap between the two cliffs made it a dangerous path to cross.

Synonyms

gaping
vsyawning
3.4

Very wide open, often like a large hole or empty space

suggests an opening big enough to engulf or swallow other things

How Wide

yawning
6.2
open
∞ 1.0
ajar
3 1.2

Surface Forms

yawning positive

Morphology

yawning = yawn (semi-transparent) = yawn + ing

The adjective is formed from 'yawn' plus '-ing', but its 'gaping, very wide open' meaning is a metaphorical extension rather than a fully literal participial meaning.

Etymology

Yawning comes from the verb yawn, which long ago meant 'open the mouth wide'. Imagine a giant mouth opening — a 'yawning' hole or chasm is just a very wide opening like that.