Definition of "rubbernecking" [rubbernecking]

• The act of slowing down whilst driving a vehicle, in order to see the scene of an accident. (noun)
• Generally, any act of observation in a manner considered unduly overt or otherwise unseemly. (noun)
• Present participle of rubberneck. (verb)

Wiktionary.org : Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

• "But perhaps this is what makes for such great literature -- the same energy experienced in rubbernecking at an auto wreck and recounting the horrors at a dinner party the following week; no need to work on the first response team, or in the O.R., because we, as readers and writers, like to keep our distance while pretending to understand."
• "Clearly she isn’t making these decisions from some “selfless” desire to make the world a better place, but instead to milk everything she can out of it while people are still interested in rubbernecking over her failed political life."
• "Well, the boffins reckon it's related to the "rubbernecking" concept - the process whereby you try and drive by an accident without having a shufti but "our emotions of concern, fear and curiosity cause us to stare out the window at the accident and slow to a crawl as we drive by"..."