as in eavesdropping
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as in gawking
to look long and hard in wonder or surprise
thoughtless drivers pausing on the highway to rubberneck at the accident
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Recent Examples of rubbernecking
Daniel Taylor, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2026
Verb
The whole of football is rubbernecking in their direction.
—Daniel Taylor, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rubbernecking
Noun
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Anadolu via Getty Images Apple users are starting to receive their share of a $95 million cash payout to settle a class action case alleging Siri eavesdropping.—
Kate O'Flaherty,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
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Only a few other animals, like parrots and apes, have demonstrated a knack for this kind of eavesdropping.—
Adithi Ramakrishnan,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Jan. 2026
Verb
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If gawking at celebrities is your thing.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
20 Jan. 2026
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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
Noun
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Nanos also reportedly faced a criminal election interference investigation stemming from the matter.—
Peter D'Abrosca,
FOXNews.com,
5 Feb. 2026
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California Democrats in Congress have stressed that the state’s elections are safe and reliable, but also started to express unease about upcoming election interference by the administration.—
Kevin Rector,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Regardless of how the strike turns out, Laurel Lucia, deputy executive director for the Labor Center at UC Berkeley, said the health care industry in California is staring at considerable changes to its business landscape.—
Pat Maio,
Oc Register,
31 Jan. 2026
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Alessandro Michele, at Valentino, was also thinking of how to collide reality and fantasy, staging his collection in nooks inspired by the kaiser panorama, an early 20th century precursor to cinema, in which viewers sat around a circle, staring into a contraption displaying slides.—
CNN Money,
CNN Money,
30 Jan. 2026
Verb
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In the Kardashian-Jenner version, Jenner, in a plunging black dress, played the part of Loren, gazing over at Kardashian who smiled at the camera in a blonde wig and plunging white silk dress.—
Meg Walters,
InStyle,
31 Jan. 2026
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So having another person in her space was always a little surprising, even if the curator, gazing at her with his usual mix of mild reproach and gauzy concern, seemed not abundantly different from the empty chair.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Hanna’s on-camera questioning brings out candid and telling responses from her fellow artists.—
Cynthia Littleton,
Variety,
26 Jan. 2026
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The Washington Examiner previously reported that Grassley was haggling with the administration over a date for testimony and that the length of questioning had become a sticking point.—
David Sivak,
The Washington Examiner,
26 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Videos of the shooting have spread online and appear to show Good, 37, being told to get out of her car, with one agent walking and prying at the door handle.—
Melissa Gomez,
Los Angeles Times,
8 Jan. 2026
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That was what led the princess to send her staff away and sneak the BBC crew in for the interview, isolating herself in the face of Bashir’s prying questions.—
Theresa Braine,
Mercury News,
26 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rubbernecking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rubbernecking. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.
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