as in eavesdropping
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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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rubbernecking
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
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
-
And that communication can be in the open, on a public channel susceptible to eavesdropping.—
Joseph Howlett,
Scientific American,
31 Mar. 2026
-
Banks extols the virtues of eavesdropping.—
Sarah Rodman,
Entertainment Weekly,
31 Mar. 2026
Verb
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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,
Literary Hub,
20 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Cotter received a two-minute penalty for goaltender interference, and Shesterkin and Markström were given two-minute penalties for leaving the crease and five minutes for fighting.—
Peter Baugh,
New York Times,
1 Apr. 2026
-
After a scoreless first period, Jared Wright nearly put the Kings ahead midway through the second, but his goal was waved off for goaltender interference.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Joan and Lynn were staring at Louise with entirely blank expressions.—
Catherine Lacey,
New Yorker,
5 Apr. 2026
-
Our first glimpse of her, before this road trip, was staring blankly, maybe suicidally, into a river.—
Jake Coyle,
Boston Herald,
3 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Days are spent barefoot, raising turnips, sitting out by the lake, gazing at the cattle.—
Miami Herald Archives,
Miami Herald,
5 Apr. 2026
-
Sifting through data from sun-gazing spacecraft, Battams’s project has found more than 5,000 so far.—
Meghan Bartels,
Scientific American,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Both were stopped by officers a few blocks away and were taken in for questioning.—
Mike Darnay,
CBS News,
31 Mar. 2026
-
In fact, the questioning of Chalker was part of a postmortem examination of a misstep by the case officer who had handed him the key.—
David D. Kirkpatrick,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Palm Springs Has Still Got It This desert enclave has long been many things at once—a spa town, a sanctuary away from Hollywood's prying eyes, a design capital, a shoo-in for winter sun.—
Jason Sheeler,
Condé Nast Traveler,
20 Feb. 2026
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But in the quietest corner of the 10-acre sanctuary, away from the public’s prying eyes, a cohort of most unusual occupants sleep.—
Shi En Kim,
AZCentral.com,
20 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Rubbernecking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rubbernecking. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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