Meaning & use
yield
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To produce or give something such as a crop, profit or result.
Grammar: Takes an object: the field yielded a good harvest.
Patterns
- yield something
- yield a result
The orchard yielded more apples than the farmer had expected.
The investigation yielded several important clues.
Government bonds yield a modest but steady return.
verbintransitive
To stop resisting and give way to pressure, persuasion or a greater force.
Grammar: No object; usually with to: yield to pressure.
Patterns
- yield to someone
- yield to something
The government refused to yield to the protesters' demands.
The old wooden door finally yielded under the weight of the storm.
He yielded to temptation and ate the last cookie.
verbtransitive or intransitiveAmerican
To let other traffic go first by slowing or stopping at a junction.
Grammar: Often with to: yield to oncoming cars; in British English give way is more common.
Patterns
- yield to someone
- yield the right of way
Drivers must yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk.
The truck yielded at the merge, letting the bus go first.
Cyclists should yield when the path narrows.
nouncountablefinance
The amount of something produced, such as a crop, or the profit made from an investment.
Grammar: Countable: a high yield, record yields; in finance, the income as a percentage of the amount invested.
Patterns
- a yield of something
- the yield on something
Warm weather improved the wheat yield this year.
The bond has a yield of four percent.
New methods have increased the milk yield per cow.
Word forms
| third person singular | yields |
|---|---|
| past tense | yielded |
| past participle | yielded |
| -ing form | yielding |
| plural | yields |
Common combinations
- yield results
- The new treatment is beginning to yield results.
- yield to pressure
- The mayor refused to yield to pressure from developers.
- crop yield
- Better irrigation raised the crop yield.
- yield the right of way
- You must yield the right of way at this sign.
- high yield
- Investors look for a high yield with little risk.
Synonyms and how they differ
- produce
- Produce is the general word for making something, while yield suggests the amount naturally given by land, work or investment.
- surrender
- Surrender means giving up completely, often after a struggle, and is stronger than yield.
- give way
- Give way fits both a physical collapse and traffic rules, and is the usual British form for traffic.
- bear
- Bear is used for trees or plants producing fruit and sounds more traditional than yield.
Opposites
Word family
- yielding adjective
- soft and flexible, or willing to give way
- yielder noun
- something that produces a yield
- unyielding adjective
- refusing to give way; very firm
- high-yield adjective
- producing a large amount or return
Commonly confused: yield or yelled?
yield vs yelled
Yelled and yield can sound close, but yelled is the past tense of yell, to shout.
Practice
The union refused to ___ to the company's final offer.
Choose one answer.
Yield to means give way to a demand. Produce, bear and provide are used with an object and cannot be followed by to in this sense.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “yield”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.