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

yawning

12 1.0
A deep breath taken with the mouth wide open because of being tired or bored
  • noun
  • /ˈjɔːnɪŋ/
translation icon : bostezo
  • During the lecture, many students were yawning due to boredom.
  • yawning gap
  • yawning deficit
  • yawning chasm

Well, Oh no, he faked yawns while nodding his head.

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Examples

  • By eight-thirty, there were nineteen people, most of them yawning and all of them looking apprehensive.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • We went back to the empty dining area, and a yawning Priscilla showed us to our favorite corner table.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • I have just been so tired that if you feel like yawning now, it's been like my main symptom this week, just feeling really tired.

  • At last, with much yawning and head shaking, he got himself up on all fours.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Yawning, he mixes the cards with great practiced sweeps and gathers them up again.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • After a long night, his constant yawning showed how tired he was.

  • She couldn't stop yawning as the movie dragged on for too long.

Synonyms

yawn
vsyawning
33 1.0

An automatic wide opening of the mouth and a deep breath when you are tired or bored

is the -ing form used to talk about the action as a state
oscitancy
vsyawning
  • Archaic
9.9

A state of feeling sleepy often shown by yawning

refers only to the involuntary act rather than the wider drowsy condition
oscitance
vsyawning
  • Archaic
9.9

A state of being sleepy and often yawning

refers only to the involuntary act rather than a broader inattentive state

Antonyms

alertness
14 2.9

A state of being watchful and ready to notice and act on danger or problems

wakefulness
4 4.7

A period when you are not sleeping, often because you cannot fall asleep at night

How Wide

gaping
3.2
yawning
12 1.0

Surface Forms

yawning singular
yawnings plural

Morphology

yawning = yawn (transparent) = yawn + ing

Standard nominalization (gerund) from the verb 'yawn' denoting the action or instance of yawning.

Etymology

Yawning names the act of a yawn, an action of 'taking a breath with the mouth wide open' that people do when they are tired or bored; the word comes from an old English verb meaning 'open the mouth wide'. So yawning simply means that automatic action people do without thinking.