Dictionary

jaw-dropping en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• jô drŏpʹĭng (General-American)
• /ˈd͡ʒɔː ˌdɹɒpɪŋ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈd͡ʒɔ ˌdɹɑpɪŋ/ (General-American)

Etymology

A reference to a person’s mouth open wide in amazement or shock.

Meanings

1. (informal) Causing great awe or surprise.
   • Bag of Bones is, hands down, [Stephen] King's most narratively subversive fiction. Whenever you're positive–just positive!–you know where this ghost story is heading, that's exactly when it gallops off in some jaw-dropping new direction. 1998 September 23, Tom De Haven, “Stephen King, Bag of Bones [book review]”, in Entertainment Weekly, New York, N.Y.: Entertainment Weekly, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 Oct 2015:
   • [Iggy] Pop's was the most jaw-dropping stage show anywhere. He made a point of bloodying himself with broken glass at virtually all of his shows. 1999, Tobias Hurwitz, “Pre-punk”, in Punk Guitar Styles: The Guitarist’s Guide to Music of the Masters (National Guitar Workshop Book), Van Nuys, Calif.: Alfred Publishing, →ISBN, page 12:
   • The plots of Mission: Impossible movies tend to be convoluted but negligible, really only there to provide connective tissue between jaw-dropping set pieces. 2018 July 25, A. A. Dowd, “Fallout may be the Most Breathlessly Intense Mission: Impossible Adventure Yet”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 31 Jul 2018:
   • The acrobatic performance in the theater was jaw dropping.
   • But they discover their error in the cab, tell their driver to turn around, talk themselves out of that, tell their driver to stop, talk themselves out of that, and finally—displaying a truly jaw-dropping grasp of logic, even for lawyers—decide the clue means that taking the cab there is okay as long as they then walk to the mat on their own two feet. 2006, Adam-Troy Castro, “The Most Jaw-dropping Errors Ever Made by Racers”, in “My Ox is Broken!”: Roadblocks, Detours, Fast Forwards, and Other Great Moments from TV’s The Amazing Race, Dallax, Tex.: BenBella Books, →ISBN, page 402:

Forms

Deriveds

jaw-droppingly

Relateds

wide-eyed · someone's jaw dropped · make someone's jaw drop

Translations (22)

fi leuat loksauttava (causing great awe or surprise) · de unglaublich (causing great awe or surprise) · de atemberaubend (causing great awe or surprise) · nl verbluffend (causing great awe or surprise) · hu elképesztő (causing great awe or surprise) · fi ällistyttävä (causing great awe or surprise) · es alucinante (causing great awe or surprise) · sh zaprepašćujuće (causing great awe or surprise) · pl zaskakujący (causing great awe or surprise) · tr ağzı açık bırakan (causing great awe or surprise) · hu döbbenetes (causing great awe or surprise) · sh da objesiš vilicu (causing great awe or surprise) · nl verbazingwekkend (causing great awe or surprise) · es asombroso (causing great awe or surprise) · fr à couper le souffle (causing great awe or surprise) · tr dudak uçuklatan (causing great awe or surprise) · pl zadziwiający (causing great awe or surprise) · ja 顎が落ちる (causing great awe or surprise) · de umwerfend (causing great awe or surprise) · nl adembenemend (causing great awe or surprise) · es impresionante (causing great awe or surprise) · hu bámulatba ejtő (causing great awe or surprise)