gaped; gaping
1
a
: to open the mouth wide
b
: to open or part widely
holes gaped in the pavement
2
: to gaze stupidly or in open-mouthed surprise or wonder
gaped at the squabbling monkeys
3
: yawn
The dull lecture made the students gape.
plural gapes
1
: an act or instance of opening the mouth wide or of keeping the mouth open wide
One piranha, she discovered, went from wide-open gape to shut jaws in less than five milliseconds, far faster than the wink of an eye.—
Per Ola d'Aulaire and Emily d'Aulaire
Per Ola d'Aulaire and Emily d'AulaireIt seemed his mouth was always sort of hanging open in a stupid gape …—Jill McCorkle
Jill McCorkleAt first glance, the case seemed routine, and the suspects elicited no gapes [=open-mouthed looks] of surprise …—Michael Powell and Nicholas Confessore
Michael Powell and Nicholas ConfessoreShe was pushing an unwieldy shopping cart in the street, trying to keep out of the way of oncoming cars, ignoring the gapes of passersby.—Joan Levine
—often used in combinationJoan Levinegape-mouthed
He looked at his men, all of them staring gape-jawed at him …—David Abrams
David Abrams
sometimes, specifically
: yawn entry 2 sense 2
… another hour of pleasure or of penance was to be sat out, another hour of music was to give delight or the gapes [=a fit of yawning] … —Jane Austen
Jane Austen 2
a
: the expanse of an open mouth : the opening formed by the open mouth of an animal (such as a bird, fish, or snake)
An eel, like most fishes, amphibians, and reptiles, is gape limited, meaning it can eat only what it can swallow …—Gene S. Helfman
Gene S. Helfman
b
: the line along which the mandibles (see mandible sense 1c) of a bird close
3
a
: something resembling an open mouth (such as an unfilled space or extent)
A hole, in whitewater parlance, is a recirculating maw of foam. … Its gape shows like a frothy smirk or, depending on viewpoint, a frown.—David Quammen
David Quammen
b
: the width of an opening
… gyratory crushers having a gape suitable for the coarsest crushing …—A. M. Gaudin
A. M. Gaudin4
gapes plural in form but singular in construction
: a disease of birds and especially young birds in which gapeworms invade and irritate the trachea (see trachea sense 1)
a case of gapes
—often used with the… an outbreak of the gapes, a disease of fowls caused by worms in the windpipe.—John Cheever
John CheeverSynonyms
Examples of gape in a Sentence
Verb
she suddenly realized she had been gaping at the good-looking waiter instead of giving him her order
Noun
I told him to stop staring, that his rather stupid gape was annoying.
Recent Examples on the Web
Chris Isidore, CNN, 5 Nov. 2024
The New York Mets have a gaping hole to fill at first base now that Pete Alonso is officially a free agent.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2024
Michael Irving, New Atlas, 1 Nov. 2024
But this means a snake’s overall mouth size expands in conjunction with the larger diameter, says researchers, who add this means a 10.2-in gape increases its total area by 40-percent.
—Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 24 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for gape 
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Verb
Those problems were worsened by a January incident in which a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines jet soon after takeoff, leaving a gaping hole in its fuselage.
—Chris Isidore, CNN, 5 Nov. 2024
The New York Mets have a gaping hole to fill at first base now that Pete Alonso is officially a free agent.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2024
Noun
That’s two-thirds of its own mass, and 93% of its maximal gape area.
—Michael Irving, New Atlas, 1 Nov. 2024
But this means a snake’s overall mouth size expands in conjunction with the larger diameter, says researchers, who add this means a 10.2-in gape increases its total area by 40-percent.
—Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 24 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for gape
Dictionary Entries Near gape
Cite this Entry
“Gape.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gape. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
gape
1 of 2 verb
gaped; gaping
1
a
: to open the mouth wide
b
: to open or part widely
2
: to stare with mouth open in surprise or wonder
gaper
noun
gape
2 of 2 noun1
: an act or instance of gaping
2
: an unfilled space
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