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
-
Among them a City boy wearing three Fit-Bit-type devices, two beautiful Middle Eastern sisters, an outrageously pompous elderly American (sorry; eavesdropping), and several Imelda Marcos lookalikes, tottering out of the treatment rooms with, somehow, their elaborate hairstyles still intact.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
2 June 2026
-
Such opportunistic eavesdropping is challenging, because Starlink is consistently optimizing for its primary satellite Internet service by turning beams on and off, or sometimes switching beams as the fast-moving satellites talk to many different users, Kassas explained.—
Andrew Cunningham,
ArsTechnica,
11 May 2026
Verb
-
This seemingly reflexive action of whipping out their phones while gawking and filming isn’t a novel occurrence.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
4 May 2026
-
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
Noun
-
Cody James Maluck, 32, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta on June 9 for interference with crew members or attendants, considered a federal crime.—
Kathleen Wong,
USA Today,
11 June 2026
-
Blocking a merger based on potential interference to newsroom decision-making, the studio warns, could allow courts to start regulating editorial outcomes in violation of the First Amendment.—
Winston Cho,
HollywoodReporter,
10 June 2026
Verb
-
Ten steps to his right, safety Bryan Cook sat on the floor, silent and still, shirt off, staring forward but toward nothing in particular.—
Sam McDowell
Updated December 8,
Kansas City Star,
8 Dec. 2025
-
In early October, a few weeks before the 2025 season tipped off, NBA commissioner Adam Silver found himself in a hallway inside NBC Sports’ facility in Stamford, Connecticut, staring at a makeshift wall of screens.—
Alex Weprin,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
Since Socrates, dialectical thinking had been a method of eliciting truth through questioning and refutation.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
15 June 2026
-
Three people were taken into custody for questioning and police recovered a gun.—
Kerry Burke,
New York Daily News,
14 June 2026
Verb
-
Yoon’s wife is gazing at a small, framed photo on the cabinet.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2026
-
The star was photographed cozying up to Consuelos on the red carpet, laughing at their private conversation, and gazing at him.—
Lara Walsh,
InStyle,
8 June 2026
Noun
-
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
-
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 18 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
