Rubbernecking
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The act of slowing down whilst driving a vehicle, in order to see the scene of an accident. uncountable
""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 Generally, any act of observation in a manner considered unduly overt or otherwise unseemly. uncountable
"The children had never been in such a large museum and their rubbernecking was rather amusing."
- 1 present participle and gerund of rubberneck form-of, gerund, participle, present
""Kids all up and down the Triboro corridors are staring, I can sense it. Why are they rubbernecking, what are they staring at?""
Example
More examples""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.""
Etymology
From rubber + neck + -ing.
Related phrases
More for "rubbernecking"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.