jawboning

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of jawbone

plural jawbonings

1. uncountableusuallyPersistent persuasive talk, particularly (politics, economics) talk that includes implied threats of punitive action, such as tighter government regulation.

   Or the merely verbal pressure of jawbonings by prominent people may try to silence a certain point of view.

   1991, Terrence E. Cook, The Great Alternatives of Social Thought, page 194

   1 more example

   It's shocking to Douek, because she is a close-watcher of what's known as "jawboning," when regulators or government officials pressure private actors, like a social media company or broadcast network, to stifle speech. The libertarian Cato Institute calls the practice "censorship by proxy."

   [2025 September 18, Bobby Allyn, “Legal experts say pulling Jimmy Kimmel from air may amount to illegal 'jawboning'”, in Television, NPR, retrieved 18 Sep 2025