gaping

/ˈɡeɪpɪŋ/

gaping is the present participle and gerund of gape.

Adjective

gaping (comparative more gaping, superlative most gaping)

Wide open.
- There’s a gaping hole in the fence.
- Typically for the 'get-on-with-it' era, the railway and military worked like demons to restore the vital rail link. The crater was rapidly filled in and the earth tamped solid, the wreckage was removed by breakdown trains, new rails and sleepers were rushed forward by willing hands, and US Army...2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43
Having the jaw wide open, as in astonishment or stupefaction.
- The men who stood behind the scenes and worked the religious puppet-show by hidden wires to the awe and astonishment of the gaping vulgar.1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 134

gaping (plural gapings)

The act of one who gapes.
- M. Le Gallois considers these gapings, which continue for some time after decapitation, as the vain efforts of the head for respiration.1820, John Cooke, A Treatise on Nervous Diseases: Vol. I on Apoplexy
Something gaping; something agape.
A threat or courtship behavior in animals involving holding the mouth open and displaying the teeth or other interior features.

gape (third-person singular simple present gapes, present participle gaping, simple past and past participle gaped)

(intransitive) To open the mouth wide, especially involuntarily, as in a yawn, anger, or surprise.
- She stretches, gapes, unglues her eyes, / And asks if it be time to rise;1723, Jonathan Swift, The Journal of a Modern Lady, 1810, Samuel Johnson, The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper, Volume 11, page 467
(intransitive) To stare in wonder.
- Home I vvould go, / But that my Dores are hatefull to my eyes. / Fill'd and damm'd up vvith gaping Creditors, / VVatchfull as Fovvlers vvhen their Game vvill ſpring; […]1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv’d, or, A Plot Discover’d. A Tragedy. […], London: […] Jos[eph] Hindmarsh […], →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 4
(intransitive) To open wide; to display a gap.
- The wound was gaping open and losing too much blood.
(intransitive) To open the passage to the vomeronasal organ, analogous to the flehming in other animals.
To depict a dilated anal or vaginal cavity upon penetrative sexual activity.

From Middle English gaping, gapynge, variants of Middle English gapand, gapande, equivalent to gape + -ing.

From Middle English gapynge, equivalent to gape + -ing.

What does gaping mean?: Gaping means wide open.
What is gaping the present participle and gerund of?: Gaping is the present participle and gerund of gape.
What part of speech is gaping?: Gaping can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce gaping?: Gaping is pronounced /ˈɡeɪpɪŋ/.

Adapted from Wiktionary: gaping (page history and authors); gape (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-AnotherFriendlyHuman-gaping.wav.

Cite this entry: “gaping.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gaping. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.