as in wide
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as in staring
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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of gaping
Hollie Silverman, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 May 2025
If the absence of Succession has left a dark and gaping hole in your heart, formerly filled by the epic, desperate machinations of the one-percent: tune in.
—Vogue, 19 July 2024
Jennifer Armstrong, IndieWire, 15 Apr. 2026
Findlay's always a little nervous that if Marathon left it would leave a gaping hole in our community.
—Dean Narciso, USA Today, 15 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for gaping
Adjective
Given that there is no witness to what happened, that leaves a very gaping hole in this investigation.
—Hollie Silverman, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 May 2025
If the absence of Succession has left a dark and gaping hole in your heart, formerly filled by the epic, desperate machinations of the one-percent: tune in.
—Vogue, 19 July 2024
Verb
Taking a character off of TV’s hottest comedy at the time would leave a gaping hole, or risk ruining a side character who couldn’t hold a show of their own.
—Jennifer Armstrong, IndieWire, 15 Apr. 2026
Findlay's always a little nervous that if Marathon left it would leave a gaping hole in our community.
—Dean Narciso, USA Today, 15 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for gaping
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gaping
Adjective
-
While the handling of the outburst by BAFTA and the BBC wasn’t ideal for anyone involved, the outrage and fallout from the event shows that Davidson’s lifelong mission to educate the wider population about Tourette syndrome is ongoing, and so important.—
Katie Walsh,
Boston Herald,
24 Apr. 2026
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Good journalism, for starters, involves careful vetting, and has been a prime mover of the wider Epstein saga.—
Jon Allsop,
New Yorker,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
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That's a lot of late nights and early mornings staring at the sky.—
Paul Sutter,
Space.com,
25 Apr. 2026
-
What Jaafar does amounts to an elaborate impression instead of an interpretation, re-creating the voice and the famous choreography and otherwise staring blankly into the middle distance when called upon to transmit emotions.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
23 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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As such, anticipated spending cuts have not materialized and British Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to announced tax hikes in her next Autumn Budget to fill a yawning fiscal hole that could be as much as £50 billion ($67.2 billion), although estimates vary.—
Holly Ellyatt,
CNBC,
30 Sep. 2025
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Yet the shooting also divided the American public in ways that many found disturbing, including a yawning lack of empathy for the victim and even cheering for the shooter.—
Patrik Jonsson,
The Christian Science Monitor,
10 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Those are important characteristics for advertisers seeking to make dynamic campaigns for an audience that's grown accustomed to viewing short-form videos on Reels or gawking at cat photos on Facebook and Instagram.—
Jonathan Vanian,
CNBC,
9 Apr. 2026
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On a typical day, the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center in Scottsdale reverberates with animal cries and the footfalls of gawking visitors.—
Shi En Kim,
AZCentral.com,
20 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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In the past a bundle of extensions could conjure images of the exposed, holding-on-by-a-strand mishaps of the early aughts.—
Hunter Lacey,
Allure,
9 Apr. 2026
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The objective is to reduce exposed equity within the entity in a lawful and structured manner.—
Ascend Agency,
New York Daily News,
11 Mar. 2026
Verb
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One untitled work from 1994 shows a strange monster—a guard bent over, gazing back at us between his own legs, his upside-down grin framed by his jackboots.—
Ben Davis,
The New York Review of Books,
25 Apr. 2026
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Even without a treatment booking, guests may cycle through the hydrotherapy circuit—steam, sauna, hot and cold plunge—while gazing at city panoramas.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
23 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Gaping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gaping. Accessed 29 Apr. 2026.
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