Dictionary

slack-jawed

Adjective

slack-jawed

(of a person) With the mouth in an open position and the jaw hanging loosely, especially as indicating bewilderment or astonishment.
- 1911, Rex Ellingwood Beach, The Ne'er-Do-Well, ch. 26:
  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.
(idiomatic, of a person) Unsophisticated or unthinking; dimwitted in appearance.
- 2002, Brooks Blevins, Hill Folks: A History of Arkansas Ozarkers and their Image, ISBN 9780807853429, p. 262 ↗:
  She brought to the stage the barefoot, slack-jawed frontiersmen found on postcards in every convenience store and tourist trap in the Ozarks.
- 2005, Michelle Cottle, "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1086159-2,00.html My Roving Barcalounger]," Time, 24 July:
  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.
(idiomatic, dated, of a person) Overly talkative; indiscreet.
- 1917, P. G. Wodehouse, "Wilton's Holiday" in The Man with Two Left Feet and Other Stories:
  Spencer was one of those slack-jawed youths who are constitutionally incapable of preserving a secret.

Synonyms

(with the mouth open and the jaw hanging loosely) dazzled, dumbfounded, open-mouthed, stunned
(unsophisticated; dimwitted in appearance) dopey, stupid, stupefied
(overly talkative) big-mouthed

This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.006