yield food

Meanings

1. 1phrasefixed phrase

   To produce or provide food, especially as a crop, plant, tree, or area of land does.

   Grammar: The subject is the thing that produces: the field yields food. Do not say a person yields food unless you mean they give it out or surrender it.

   Patterns

   • something yields food
   • yield food for someone
   • land that yields food

   These old olive trees still yield food for the whole village.

   The soil is so poor that it can barely yield food for one family.

   Farmers are looking for crops that yield food even in dry years.

2. 2phrasefixed phrase

   To give up or hand over food, often unwillingly or under pressure.

   Grammar: Here the subject is a person or group, and there is often a sense of force or duty: yield food to someone.

   Patterns

   • yield food to someone
   • yield food to the authorities
   • refuse to yield food

   The villagers were forced to yield food to the soldiers.

   Under the agreement, the company had to yield food supplies to the relief agency.

   They would rather hide the grain than yield food to the tax collectors.

3. 3phrasefixed phraseformal

   To allow food to be taken or used, as a concession in an argument or negotiation.

   Grammar: Used mainly in formal or business writing about negotiations; the object is usually a share or supply of food.

   Patterns

   • yield food supplies
   • yield food to someone
   • yield on food prices

   In the end, the government yielded food supplies to the aid workers.

   Neither side wanted to yield food aid as part of the deal.

   The union refused to yield food benefits during the talks.

Common combinations

yield a good crop

With enough rain, the fields yield a good crop every autumn.

yield food for the family

The small garden yields food for the family all summer.

yield food to the enemy

The fort had to yield food to the enemy after the siege.

land that yields food

They bought a piece of land that yields food without much work.

yield a high yield

New varieties yield a higher yield per hectare than older ones.

Synonyms and how they differ

produce

The most general choice for crops or farms making food; 'yield food' is more formal and often suggests a measured amount.

give

Much broader and neutral; use it for people handing something over, not for what a field does.

supply

Focuses on providing what is needed over time; 'yield food' stresses that the food comes out of the land or plant.

Opposites

Word family

yield noun

The amount produced, as in a good yield of rice.

yielding adjective

Producing a lot, as in fertile, yielding soil.

food noun

The thing that is produced and eaten.

Commonly confused: yield food or yield up? yield food or field?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “yield food”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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