rubberneck
/ˈɹʌbɚˌnɛk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.54 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Someone who engages in rubbernecking, or turning and staring.
noun
Someone or something with a flexible neck.
verb
To watch by craning the neck (as though it were made of rubber), especially if the observer and observed are in motion relative to each other.
Transitive verb
verb
To cause (someone) to watch in fascinated horror, as if rubbernecking to see a roadside accident.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "The uniformed man pointed up at the rubbernecks on the end of the pier."
- "We must have looked gorgeous. And what made it worse, there was at least a hundred rubbernecks that didn't have anything better to do than stand around and watch everyone falling all over themselves."
- "A suitable washer B1 and rubberneck B2, both of well known description, are provided to form with clapper arm B3 a watertight joint..."
- "“‘Hi, rubberneck!’ — he clutched at her pear-like breast jutting from her sweater — ‘how long did you think you'll duck me?’”"
- "The driver was so busy rubbernecking, trying to get a good view of the accident, that he was almost part of another accident."
- "Hoover’s books go down like a T.M.I. Facebook confessional, rubbernecking you in from the first sentence. Certain patterns quickly emerge."
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɹʌbɚˌnɛk/
Usage
- American usage
- Obsolete
- Transitive verb