OSCITANCY
Dictionary entry overview: What does oscitancy mean?
• OSCITANCY (noun)
The noun OSCITANCY has 2 senses:
1. drowsiness and dullness manifested by yawning
2. an involuntary intake of breath through a wide open mouth; usually triggered by fatigue or boredom
Familiarity information: OSCITANCY used as a noun is rare.
Dictionary entry details
• OSCITANCY (noun)
Meaning:
Drowsiness and dullness manifested by yawning
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Synonyms:
oscitance; oscitancy
Hypernyms ("oscitancy" is a kind of...):
dullness; obtuseness (the quality of being slow to understand)
drowsiness; sleepiness; somnolence (a very sleepy state)
Meaning:
An involuntary intake of breath through a wide open mouth; usually triggered by fatigue or boredom
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Synonyms:
yawn; yawning; oscitance; oscitancy
Context examples:
he could not suppress a yawn / the yawning in the audience told him it was time to stop / he apologized for his oscitancy
Hypernyms ("oscitancy" is a kind of...):
inborn reflex; innate reflex; instinctive reflex; physiological reaction; reflex; unconditioned reflex (an automatic instinctive unlearned reaction to a stimulus)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "oscitancy"):
pandiculation (yawning and stretching (as when first waking up))
