jawboning
noun
Did you know?
In the late 1800s, the noun jawbone meant "credit" (as in his money's gone, so he lives on jawbone), which was probably influenced by the practice of coaxing others to lend money by promising to pay it back. By the mid-1960s the verb to jawbone, meaning "to talk about to gain some end," was appearing regularly in the media. The noun jawboning made its print debut at the end of that decade, in reference to rhetorical practices that influenced the actions of the wealthy and powerful. All of these uses were likely influenced by the verb jaw, which has long been used with the meanings "to talk" or "to scold."
Examples of jawboning in a Sentence
Bob Woods, CNBC, 5 Oct. 2025
The debate has marked a homecoming moment for Murthy v. Missouri, when the Supreme Court last year declined to rule the Biden administration’s jawboning of social media platforms to take down certain content violated the First Amendment.
—Zach Schonfeld, The Hill, 24 Sep. 2025
The silencing of Jimmy Kimmel and jawboning of media outlets through lawsuits and threats to their licenses evoke dark memories of the 1950s.
—Anastasia Tsioulcas, NPR, 22 Sep. 2025
Carr's jawboning of ABC preceded Nexstar, a big right-leaning TV station group that happens to be in the midst of an important merger requiring FCC approval, to announce its affiliates would pull Kimmel.
—Carlo Versano, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Sep. 2025
Remember this amid President Trump’s endless jawboning of Jerome Powell.
—John Tamny, Forbes.com, 24 Aug. 2025
Nevertheless, there’s great danger in his reckless jawboning.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 2 June 2025
On top of all that, this kind of high-profile jawboning undercuts the notion that Meta made a principled decision.
—Adi Robertson, The Verge, 7 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Jawboning.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jawboning. Accessed 24 Oct. 2025.
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