as in eavesdropping
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
as in gawking
to look long and hard in wonder or surprise
thoughtless drivers pausing on the highway to rubberneck at the accident
Synonyms & Similar Words
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 rubbernecking
Kris Habermehl,
CBS News,
4 May 2026
Instead, Malinin popped his quad axel, the beginning of four minutes that started to feel like rubbernecking a car accident.
—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
14 Feb. 2026
The whole of football is rubbernecking in their direction.
—
Daniel Taylor,
New York Times,
17 Jan. 2026
Verb
As a result, traffic between Morton Grove and Skokie has slowed to a crawl, and on the inbound side there has also been a slowdown due to rubbernecking.
—
Kris Habermehl,
CBS News,
4 May 2026
Instead, Malinin popped his quad axel, the beginning of four minutes that started to feel like rubbernecking a car accident.
—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
14 Feb. 2026
The whole of football is rubbernecking in their direction.
—
Daniel Taylor,
New York Times,
17 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rubbernecking
Noun
-
He was charged with five felony counts of eavesdropping, 23 misdemeanor counts of secretly filming another person and three misdemeanor counts of unlawful dissemination of private recordings.
-
The staff of Sermitsiaq had taken to leaving their phones outside editorial meetings, for fear of eavesdropping by the United States.
Verb
-
Shoppers are gawking at their climbing receipts as food costs continue to climb.
-
This seemingly reflexive action of whipping out their phones while gawking and filming isn’t a novel occurrence.
Noun
-
In the months since, the strait has seen intense GPS spoofing — a form of navigation systems interference that causes vessels’ broadcast positions to appear in the wrong locations.
-
The speed and scale of these disruptions prompted the United Nations aviation agency’s assembly to rebuke Russia in October 2025 for satellite interference.
Verb
-
In Taiwan, a student sitting for an entrance exam for a top medical school was discovered wearing smart glasses after proctors noticed the student staring oddly at the test, leading to an inspection that revealed the frame was emitting heat.
-
Three stories, three separate sets of receipts, with one through line worth staring at until a clearer view emerges.
Noun
-
That seemed to work for a while, but now his intrusiveness is ramping up again.
Verb
-
Isn’t that what any of us wants when gazing into the mirror held up to nature, as Hamlet describes the theater?
-
Soul gazing The following morning, the participants wake up with maybe the clearest heads in Nashville.
Noun
-
Capoy said the suspects, who were close friends, said in initial questioning that they were bullied in school.
-
The Kansas City Police Department detained one man for further questioning.
Noun
-
It’s often viewed as a dumping ground for human refuse — out of sight, out of mind — and it is structured to prevent prying eyes.
-
Following Guthrie's prying, Lopez eventually caved in with a concrete answer.
Cite this Entry
“Rubbernecking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rubbernecking. Accessed 30 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
