as in stares
a fixed intent look
I told him to stop staring, that his rather stupid gape was annoying
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in gazes
to look long and hard in wonder or surprise
she suddenly realized she had been gaping at the good-looking waiter instead of giving him her order
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of gapes
Literary Hub, 10 Feb. 2026
Verb
Straitjacketed inside the inescapable present, Pearl gapes up to discover that her husband, Walker, has found her; Walker was always going to find her.
—Literary Hub, 10 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gapes
Noun
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In one scene from the film’s original script, the King of Pop stares at his reflection in the mirror, capturing his sorrowful gaze as police car lights flash behind him.—
Brent Lang,
Variety,
7 Apr. 2026
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Musgraves and Hannah Lux Davis co-directed the song’s cheeky video, which is set in a grocery store and is ripe with fruit-touching and wistful stares.—
Travis Pinson,
Dallas Morning News,
11 Mar. 2026
Verb
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All three writers turned loving, humorous, piercing gazes on a particular place, exploring, through cycles of plays, the rich humanity and the grave historical wounds of its inhabitants.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
26 Apr. 2026
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Peasants whisper about monsters in the forest, and in the interlude between the wars, Lajos gazes at a house that is burning down and has a premonition of the world-historical destruction to come.—
Becca Rothfeld,
New Yorker,
23 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The 73-year-old Weinstein kept his eyes trained on Mann throughout her Tuesday testimony, intermittently whispering to his attorney, Teny Geragos.—
Molly Crane-Newman,
New York Daily News,
29 Apr. 2026
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In another, Hurst snapped a picture of a man sleeping rough on a slab of cardboard, one arm shielding his eyes from the sun, and the other pulling up his shirt suggestively.—
Chris Wiley,
New Yorker,
28 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Gapes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gapes. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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