gawk

[ gawk ]

verb (used without object)

1. to stare stupidly; gape:

   The onlookers gawked at arriving celebrities.

   Synonyms: rubberneck, goggle, gaze, ogle, peer

noun

1. an awkward, foolish person.

gawk

/ ɡɔːk /

noun

1. a clumsy stupid person; lout

verb

1. intr to stare in a stupid way; gape

Word History and Origins

Origin of gawk¹

1775–85; apparently representing OE word meaning fool, equivalent to ga(gol) foolish + -oc -ock; used attributively in gawk hand, gallock hand left hand

Word History and Origins

Origin of gawk¹

C18: from Old Danish gaukr; probably related to gape

Example Sentences

"It's not about gawking at the brothers," she added.

From BBC

Thousands of people showed up to the Washington Square Park archway to gawk at the numerous dark-haired, square-jawed lookalikes.

From Salon

Unfortunately, the same draws that make it a walkable gawk for touristas of every stripe makes it a frustrating exercise in perambulation for locals — kind of like New York’s Times Square with balmier weather.

From Los Angeles Times

Biopics should not be a lookalike contest, where audiences gawk at the screen, inspecting the performance with opera binoculars to see just how closely an actor can come to mirroring their real-life subject.

From Salon

Broken glass spills out onto the narrow hillside road where tourist buses and others slow down to gawk at the mansion that sits like a colorful disaster.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• gape
• glare
• ogle

More About Gawk

Where does the word gawk come from?

We’ve all gawked, or “stared stupidly,” at various spectacles, from acrobats to celebrity meltdowns.

Word nerds gawk at the origin of gawk—because it’s a spectacular puzzle.

Gawk is recorded in 1775–85 in American English. It’s believed that gawk is based on an Old English word meaning “fool,” which appears in gawk hand or gallock hand, referring to the left hand. Our apologies, lefties.

An alternative idea is that gawk is based on gaw, an old word meaning “to gaze, stare,” with an additional -k suffix found in other words such as talk and stalk.

Stubborn isn’t alone: it finds lots of company in other English words that seem simple but whose origins are not. Discover more in our slideshow “‘Dog,’ ‘Boy,’ And Other Words That We Don’t Know Where They Came From.”

Did you know … ?

Gawk is just one of the many words we use to describe looking at something in a certain way. Other words that are close in meaning to gawk include gape and ogle. Gawk can be easily confused with other forms of looking, such as stare, gaze, leer, eyeball, and scan.

Looking for more synonyms for gawk? Why not take a peek at Thesaurus.com for our many synonyms for the words see and look.

So, when should you use gawk as opposed to, say, gaze? Gawk is generally used when something or someone stupefies a person to the point that all they can do is stare in confusion, amazement, or disbelief. You can gawk at something bad (e.g., He stood and gawked at the train accident) or something good, as in The judge couldn’t help but gawk at the amazing gymnastics routine.