Meaning of rubbernecker | Babel Free

Definitions

A person who rubbernecks; someone who cranes their neck as though it were made of rubber to see something (such as a tourist attraction) or to watch an event (such as an accident); a rubberneck.

Equivalents

Examples

“The minor accident caused a traffic jam as rubberneckers slowed down to get⟳ a good view⟳ of the battered cars.”

“Gentlemen will leave⟳ their pocket flasks with the captain, and will limit⟳ themselves to two bunches of cigarettes each. Rubber neckers will be executed without trial. Glasses will be needed to protect⟳ the eyes from the dust, and you MUST "Keep⟳ off the grass."”

“I suppose⟳ that fellow was a rubber-necker, and got killed peeping over the trenches.”

“He is a great "rubber-necker." What he don't see⟳ aint worth looking at.”

“We are taught the importance of hygiene of the mouth, of the body, and of the hair, but little concerning the nose, which is the "rubber-necker" which is expected to discover⟳ any laxity of cleanliness of other parts of the body or the air around us.”

“"The train's whistle was blowin' the whole time and, Lord, it sounded like⟳ a bomb had went^([sic]) off when they hit," said Patty Fay McNair, a waitress at the Torch, to a rubbernecker who'd asked if she'd seen what happened.”

“A huge crowd of Muscovites had gathered around the distant approaches to the building, beyond the cordon of military and police. [...] Stray bullets flew in their direction, too, and several people were wounded. Some were even killed. Nevertheless the crowd of rubberneckers kept growing.”

“[...] Snake River breaching [...] will attract⟳ tourists, fly-rodders, kayakers, birders, botanists, Lewis and Clark buffs, and rubberneckers from all over the globe to ogle the mothballed dam remnants, study⟳ the returning plants, birds, and wildlife, [...]”

“[...] Shane kept looking into the open⟳ box with the morbid curiosity of a freeway rubbernecker passing a fatal accident. All of his mid-nineties career pileups were collected there.”

“'A rubbernecker checking out where you lived.' / 'Why would anybody do that?' / 'I guess⟳ it kind of makes you a celebrity.'”

“The new season is unrelentingly bleak – gone is [Margaret] Atwood's astute social commentary, turning the audience into rubberneckers peering at the carnage.”

CEFR level