Slack-jawed
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 With the mouth in an open position and the jaw hanging loosely, especially as indicating bewilderment or astonishment.
"For one frightful moment there was no sound; even the men's breathing was hushed, and they sat slack-jawed, stunned, half-minded to believe this some hideous, incredible jest."
- 2 Unsophisticated or unthinking; dimwitted in appearance. broadly
"She brought to the stage the barefoot, slack-jawed frontiersmen found on postcards in every convenience store and tourist trap in the Ozarks."
- 3 Overly talkative; indiscreet. dated
"As a matter of fact, it was by trying to lean on it that Spencer Clay got hold of the facts of the case; and when young Clay got hold of anything, Marois Bay at large had it hot and fresh a few hours later; for Spencer was one of those slack-jawed youths who are constitutionally incapable of preserving a secret."
Example
More examples"For one frightful moment there was no sound; even the men's breathing was hushed, and they sat slack-jawed, stunned, half-minded to believe this some hideous, incredible jest."
More for "slack-jawed"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.