yawned; yawning; yawns
1
: to open wide : gape
2
: to open the mouth wide and take a deep breath usually as an involuntary reaction to fatigue or boredom
1
: to utter with a yawn
2
: to accomplish with or impel by yawns
his grandchildren yawned him to bed—
L. L. King
L. L. King2
: an opening of the mouth wide while taking a deep breath often as an involuntary reaction to fatigue or boredom
also
: a reaction resembling a yawn
a … success at the box office but drew only yawns from critics —Current Biography
Current Biography 3
: bore entry 5
this book is kind of a yawn—Ilene L. Cooper
Ilene L. CooperExamples of yawn in a Sentence
Verb
Students were yawning in class.
Noun
I tried to stifle a yawn.
as neither candidate was willing to make an unequivocal statement about anything, the debate proved to be a complete yawn
Recent Examples on the Web
Gary Shteyngart, The Atlantic, 7 Feb. 2025
The difference was running back Derrick Henry, who came cheap after the free-agent market yawned at him.
—Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Mar. 2025
Bret Stephens, Mercury News, 4 Apr. 2025
Some economists reacted to reciprocal tariffs with a yawn – even before Trump made his announcement Thursday.
—David Goldman and Matt Egan, CNN, 13 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for yawn
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.
Verb
The next day, Mark and I traveled west of Milan, past rice fields and solar-power farms and shirtless men yawning on balconies, to a village in the Biella region of Piedmont, where Vitale Barberis Canonico is based.
—Gary Shteyngart, The Atlantic, 7 Feb. 2025
The difference was running back Derrick Henry, who came cheap after the free-agent market yawned at him.
—Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Mar. 2025
Noun
Some of us have been writing about the plight of Palestinians under their own rulers for decades — the struggle of Palestinian journalists to write freely; the tragedy of gay Palestinians seeking to live freely — only to be met with a collective yawn.
—Bret Stephens, Mercury News, 4 Apr. 2025
Some economists reacted to reciprocal tariffs with a yawn – even before Trump made his announcement Thursday.
—David Goldman and Matt Egan, CNN, 13 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for yawn
Cite this Entry
“Yawn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yawn. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Medical Definition
yawn
1 of 2 intransitive verb
: to open the mouth wide and take a deep breath usually as an involuntary reaction to fatigue or boredom
yawn
2 of 2 noun
: an opening of the mouth wide while taking a deep breath often as an involuntary reaction to fatigue or boredom
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share