Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A gawking onlooker.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Someone who watches, a spectator, in the sense that they crane their neck as though it were made of rubber. Especially those who watch accidents.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person who stares inquisitively

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Becoming a Google rubbernecker -- gawking at someone's life from afar and finding something insulting or embarrassing there -- reminds me of the prank of pasting a "Kick Me Hard" sign on an unwitting victim's back.

    Pamela Haag, Ph.D.: In a Google World, Do You Have the 'Right to Be Forgotten'? Ph.D. Pamela Haag 2011

  • I felt like a rubbernecker, but was compelled to know more about this lady.

    Luxury's 'Freak Category' Ralph Gardner Jr. 2011

  • If I went to New York I would be worse than a rubbernecker.

    Todd Greene: Irene In New York and Natural Disaster Rubbernecking Todd Greene 2011

  • Becoming a Google rubbernecker -- gawking at someone's life from afar and finding something insulting or embarrassing there -- reminds me of the prank of pasting a "Kick Me Hard" sign on an unwitting victim's back.

    Pamela Haag, Ph.D.: In a Google World, Do You Have the 'Right to Be Forgotten'? Ph.D. Pamela Haag 2011

  • An auction of Madoff family belongings held at New York's Sheraton Hotel and Towers in November arguably displayed Americans' fascination with the abyss--but the rubbernecker-bidders were also doing some good.

    Marian Salzman: Reinvention, Part II Marian Salzman 2010

  • An auction of Madoff family belongings held at New York's Sheraton Hotel and Towers in November arguably displayed Americans' fascination with the abyss -- but the rubbernecker-bidders were also doing some good.

    Marian Salzman: Reinvention, Part II Marian Salzman 2010

  • An auction of Madoff family belongings held at New York's Sheraton Hotel and Towers in November arguably displayed Americans' fascination with the abyss -- but the rubbernecker-bidders were also doing some good.

    Marian Salzman: Reinvention, Part II Marian Salzman 2010

  • An auction of Madoff family belongings held at New York's Sheraton Hotel and Towers in November arguably displayed Americans' fascination with the abyss -- but the rubbernecker-bidders were also doing some good.

    Marian Salzman: Reinvention, Part II Marian Salzman 2010

  • An auction of Madoff family belongings held at New York's Sheraton Hotel and Towers in November arguably displayed Americans' fascination with the abyss -- but the rubbernecker-bidders were also doing some good.

    Marian Salzman: Reinvention, Part II Marian Salzman 2010

  • The whole incident had made me feel indescribably dirty, like a rubbernecker at the site of a car crash.

    John Belushi Is Dead Kathy Charles 2010

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