Transcription
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- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
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- [ruhb-er-nek]
- /ˈrʌb ərˌnɛk/
- /ˈrʌb.ə.nek.ər/
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- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
-
- [ruhb-er-nek]
- /ˈrʌb ərˌnɛk/
Definitions of rubberneck word
- verb without object rubberneck to look about or stare with great curiosity, as by craning the neck or turning the head. 1
- verb with object rubberneck to gawk at: The tieup was due to drivers rubbernecking an accident. 1
- noun rubberneck a sightseer; tourist. 1
- noun rubberneck an extremely curious person. 1
- intransitive verb rubberneck gawk at accident scene 1
- noun rubberneck driver: gawks at accident 1
Information block about the term
Origin of rubberneck
First appearance:
before 1895 One of the 18% newest English words
An Americanism dating back to 1895-1900; rubber1 + neck
Historical Comparancy
Parts of speech for Rubberneck
noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
rubberneck popularity
A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 40% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.
rubberneck usage trend in Literature
This diagram is provided by Google Ngram ViewerSynonyms for rubberneck
verb rubberneck
- be-held — simple past tense and past participle of behold.
- check over — a thorough examination or investigation.
- differencing — the state or relation of being different; dissimilarity: There is a great difference between the two.
- discern — to perceive by the sight or some other sense or by the intellect; see, recognize, or apprehend: They discerned a sail on the horizon.
- eagle-eye — unusually sharp visual powers; keen ability to watch or observe.
noun rubberneck
- busybody — If you refer to someone as a busybody, you are criticizing the way they interfere in other people's affairs.
- day-tripper — A day-tripper is someone who goes on a day trip.
- ferret — a narrow tape or ribbon, as of silk or cotton, used for binding, trimming, etc.
- fussbudget — a fussy or needlessly fault-finding person.
- intermeddler — One who intermeddles.
See also
Matching words
- Words starting with r
- Words starting with ru
- Words starting with rub
- Words starting with rubb
- Words starting with rubbe
- Words starting with rubber
- Words starting with rubbern
- Words starting with rubberne
- Words starting with rubbernec
- Words starting with rubberneck