jaw-dropping meaning (informal): definition

jaw-dropping

adj

UK /ˈd͡ʒɔː ˌdɹɒpɪŋ/ · US /ˈd͡ʒɔ ˌdɹɑpɪŋ/

Etymology A reference to a person’s mouth open wide in amazement or shock.

Informal Causing great awe or surprise.

The acrobatic performance in the theater was jaw dropping.
Bag of Bones is, hands down, [Stephen] King's most narratively subversive fiction. Whenever you're positive–just positive!–you know where this ghost story is heading, that's exactly when it gallops off in some jaw-dropping new direction.1998 September 23, Tom De Haven, “Stephen King, Bag of Bones [book review]”, in Entertainment Weekly, New York, N.Y.: Entertainment Weekly, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 Oct 2015:

3 more examples

[Iggy] Pop's was the most jaw-dropping stage show anywhere. He made a point of bloodying himself with broken glass at virtually all of his shows.1999, Tobias Hurwitz, “Pre-punk”, in Punk Guitar Styles: The Guitarist’s Guide to Music of the Masters (National Guitar Workshop Book), Van Nuys, Calif.: Alfred Publishing, →ISBN, page 12:
But they discover their error in the cab, tell their driver to turn around, talk themselves out of that, tell their driver to stop, talk themselves out of that, and finally—displaying a truly jaw-dropping grasp of logic, even for lawyers—decide the clue means that taking the cab there is okay as long as they then walk to the mat on their own two feet.2006, Adam-Troy Castro, “The Most Jaw-dropping Errors Ever Made by Racers”, in “My Ox is Broken!”: Roadblocks, Detours, Fast Forwards, and Other Great Moments from TV’s The Amazing Race, Dallax, Tex.: BenBella Books, →ISBN, page 402:
The plots of Mission: Impossible movies tend to be convoluted but negligible, really only there to provide connective tissue between jaw-dropping set pieces.2018 July 25, A. A. Dowd, “Fallout may be the Most Breathlessly Intense Mission: Impossible Adventure Yet”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 31 Jul 2018: