rubbernecking

English

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rubbernecking

  • /ˈɹʊbɚˌnɛkɪŋ/

Where it comes from

From rubber + neck + -ing.

noun

  1. uncountable The act of slowing down while driving a vehicle, in order to see the scene of an accident. "The resulting wreckage blocks the entire southbound side of the Interstate, while the inevitable rubbernecking slows traffic on the northbound side to little more than the speed of a brisk walk."
  2. uncountable Generally, any act of observation in a manner considered unduly overt or otherwise unseemly. The children had never been in such a large museum and their rubbernecking was rather amusing.

verb

  1. gerund, participle, present present participle and gerund of rubberneck "Kids all up and down the Triboro corridors are staring, I can sense it. Why are they rubbernecking, what are they staring at?"

Translations

Every language

noun slowing down to see the scene of an accident

Españolcuriosear
Françaisfaire le badaud
DeutschGaffen

noun unseemly act of observation

Españolcotilleo
DeutschGaffen, Spannen

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Cite this
MLA

"rubbernecking." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/rubbernecking. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

rubbernecking. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/rubbernecking

Chicago

"rubbernecking." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/rubbernecking.

BibTeX
@misc{rubbernecking_2026,
  title = {rubbernecking},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/rubbernecking},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}