Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To look about or survey with unsophisticated wonderment or curiosity.
- n. A rubbernecker.
Wiktionary
- n. Someone who engages in rubbernecking, or turning and staring.
- n. US, obsolete A tourist.
- n. Someone or something with a flexible neck.
- v. 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.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a tourist who is visiting sights of interest
- n. a person who stares inquisitively
- v. strain to watch; stare curiously
Etymologies
- Coined in the sense of "tourist" in the United States in the late 19th century. A favored Americanism of H.L. Mencken. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“When you're a superstar performer and you've mainly humiliated yourself (and your family) and haven't done anything to directly betray or cheat your adoring fans, all you have to do is let time pass to allow your ADD followers to "rubberneck" some other star's or celebrity's personal train wreck, then come back and perform superbly and not only will you be forgiven, you may be re-anointed as a hero.”
The Huffington Post: Mark Goulston, M.D.: Just Listen -- "All Is Forgiven Tiger"
“It's part of the human predisposition to rubberneck major accidents.”
“Judging by these participatory self-portraits, Caravaggio shows himself intensely curious about history and society, prepared to rubberneck on our behalf and report back what he sees.”
“As the always-underrated Rescue Me's final season progresses, Kelly's relationship with Tommy grows deeper, richer and more complex, and there's no one better equipped to handle the show's trademark rubberneck shifts between comedy and drama than the NewsRadio and ER vet.”
“I watch the show like a rubberneck passing a car accident.”
“Of the three grunt calls I have like Primos Buck Roar best, Primos rubberneck as well as Hs's True Talker, both work but not as good as the Roar.”
“Sure, if you zone out from the relentless news cycle, you might miss a gory pileup or two, but it's not as though you need to rubberneck every last car crash to realize how dangerous it is out there.”
“Although I was comfortable enough to rubberneck constantly, I had a death-grip on the harness straps and only let go to take a few very fast snapshots.”
“The tragedies of today are more like car accidents that we rubberneck on the virtual super highway compared to the very personal impact of World War II when people like my grandparents would read the daily paper for the list of local men who were killed overseas.”
The Huffington Post: Scott Stenholm: 2001-2011: The Decade of Great Change & Tragedy
“In shared media moments like this, we are all uncommonly privileged commoners, granted a front-row seat to rubberneck at will at a lavish ceremony, festooned with wacky hats, that seemingly went off without a hitch.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘rubberneck’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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Here's Looking At You Kid
Synonyms or funny substitutes for the word 'look'.
gaze, glare, saw, penned, peeked, poked, bore, blazed, glance, search, gaped, gawped and 41 more...
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Be drivers
pile driver, chicane, truck driver, carpool driver, system software d..., Tampopo, telltale, stirling moss, selfish gene, rubberneck, mint, slalom and 9 more...
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kalidas's Words
crepuscular, mellifluous, ephemeral, diaphanous, zeitgeist, geisterfahrer, infinite, eternal, idyllic, azure, reminiscent, oblivion and 521 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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meleeman's favorite words
words I like.
melee, terroir, pinot noir, lingerie, foodie, chervil, chimes, gastronome, oenology, oenophile, gourmand, bouquet and 23 more...
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"Look" Verbs
glance, gaze, peek, peep, peer, scan, view, glimpse, gander, watch, snoop, eye and 34 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for rubberneck.
reesetee Appleandy, if you're referring to the definition above, click on "more" and you'll see that definition. WeirdNet can be weird at times. :-) Feb 19, 2008
appleandy I always thought to rubber-neck was to look at something that is moving past one (or that one is moving past) so that one's head swivels on one's neck to keep it in sight Feb 19, 2008