as in staring
to look long and hard in wonder or surprise
couldn't help gawking at the exotically dressed guests in the hotel lobby
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of gawking
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
Armed soldiers patrolled in droves, spreading hate and fear everywhere, blindfolding children, pointing guns, gawking, spitting, laughing at us like animals in the zoo.
—Literary Hub, 20 Feb. 2026
Setting aside the gawking nature of certain style choices (the warped, swiveling, 360-degree shots used when someone starts talking about particularly demented ideas are nauseating on multiple levels), the series too closely mirrors its subjects’ insularity.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 13 Feb. 2026
If gawking at celebrities is your thing.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 20 Jan. 2026
Here, astronomers are gawking at a radio signal that appears crudely on the screen like a crooked game of Pong but turns out to be a line of data repeated every 78 seconds from 600 light-years away.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 7 Nov. 2025
But the cringe-comedy antics of the original NBC series landed far better in Season 3 than in Season 1, once audiences began to truly love the characters instead of just gawking at them.
—Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2025
Nunn has a divided audience, as the Baddies show is fueled with drama, with Jerry Springer style fights to keep viewers gawking.
—Nadja Sayej, Forbes.com, 11 Aug. 2025
Shi En Kim, AZCentral.com, 20 Feb. 2026
Armed soldiers patrolled in droves, spreading hate and fear everywhere, blindfolding children, pointing guns, gawking, spitting, laughing at us like animals in the zoo.
—Literary Hub, 20 Feb. 2026
Setting aside the gawking nature of certain style choices (the warped, swiveling, 360-degree shots used when someone starts talking about particularly demented ideas are nauseating on multiple levels), the series too closely mirrors its subjects’ insularity.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 13 Feb. 2026
If gawking at celebrities is your thing.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 20 Jan. 2026
Here, astronomers are gawking at a radio signal that appears crudely on the screen like a crooked game of Pong but turns out to be a line of data repeated every 78 seconds from 600 light-years away.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 7 Nov. 2025
But the cringe-comedy antics of the original NBC series landed far better in Season 3 than in Season 1, once audiences began to truly love the characters instead of just gawking at them.
—Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2025
Nunn has a divided audience, as the Baddies show is fueled with drama, with Jerry Springer style fights to keep viewers gawking.
—Nadja Sayej, Forbes.com, 11 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gawking
Verb
-
After taking his skis off, Klæbo sat hunched over, staring into the snow, before standing up and congratulating his teammates and the rest of the finishers.—
Nathaniel Herz,
NPR,
21 Feb. 2026
-
Kids leaned over the sideline staring at fresh paint that had not learned the language of pickup games yet.—
D’Joumbarey Moreau,
Miami Herald,
20 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Standing under a starry sky, gazing up at the wonder of the cosmos, is a foundational human experience and one that has shaped our storytelling and cultures for millennia.—
Megan Eaves,
Outside,
20 Feb. 2026
-
Whitney is gazing into the middle distance, contemplating a runner on a Lithuanian passport, when Ferdinand blows the world of season four apart.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
16 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Gawking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gawking. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
