Dictionary

slack-jawed en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

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. 1911, Rex Ellingwood Beach, chapter 26, in The Ne'er-Do-Well:
   • The Pudgelys and the Pinkhearts and the Roundasses are all staring at her, slackjawed. 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 33:
2. (broadly) Unsophisticated or unthinking; dimwitted in appearance.
   • But driving a car—particularly the supersize models—really should demand more concentration than, say, slouching slack-jawed in front of the wide screen in your den. 2005 July 24, Michelle Cottle, “My Roving Barcalounger”, in Time, archived from the original on 28 Jul 2005:
   • She brought to the stage the barefoot, slack-jawed frontiersmen found on postcards in every convenience store and tourist trap in the Ozarks. 2002, Brooks Blevins, Hill Folks: A History of Arkansas Ozarkers and their Image, →ISBN, page 262:
3. (dated) Overly talkative; indiscreet.
   • 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. 1917, P. G. Wodehouse, “Wilton's Holiday”, in The Man with Two Left Feet and Other Stories:

Forms

Relateds

mouth breather

Synonyms

dazzled · big-mouthed · dumbfounded · stupid · dopey · stunned · open-mouthed · stupefied

Translations (3)

es boquiabierto (having one's jaw hang loosely) · pon ausara (having one's jaw hang loosely) · ru полоро́тый (having one's jaw hang loosely)