yield

Formsyields, yielding, yielded

Pluralyields

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To produce or provide something as a result, outcome, or return, such as information, a crop, a profit, or, in linguistics, a later sound.

   The experiment yielded results that contradicted the team's hypothesis.

   Months of negotiation may yet yield a workable compromise.

   Similarproduce, generate, provide, give, deliver

   Note

   The core sense runs from soil to speech. The King James Bible of 1611 has a wilderness that "yieldeth food," while in Shakespeare's The Tempest, Caliban "never yields us kind answer." There a person, not a field, is the one giving something back. Furnish and afford are close neighbors, but yield keeps the sense that what is given comes out of its source, as a return. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. en.wikisource.org
   • The King James Bible describes a wilderness that "yieldeth food" (Job 24:5). en.wikisource.org
   • William Shakespeare wrote The Tempest. gutenberg.org
   • In The Tempest, Prospero describes Caliban as someone who "never yields us kind answer"; Caliban is the subject, not the speaker, of these words. gutenberg.org
2. 2
   let passverbUStransitive or intransitive

   To give way to another vehicle or person, allowing them to proceed first.

   Cyclists must yield to pedestrians on the shared path.

   She yielded the right of way to traffic merging from the on-ramp.

   UsageYield to whoever goes first (yield to pedestrians), or yield the right of way. British English says give way.

   Similardefer

3. 3
   surrenderverbtransitive or intransitive

   To give up or hand over something demanded; to relinquish a possession, position, or claim.

   The defeated general yielded the city to the invading army.

   Negotiators expect the union to yield on its wage demands.

   UsageYou yield to the side you give in to, or yield something to someone. Yield the point means you stop arguing.

   Similarsurrender, relinquish, cede, concede, capitulate

   Oppositeresist

   Note

   The verb works both ways. With an object, it names what is handed over: yield the point, yield the crown, or Marlowe's "I yeeld my selfe, my men & horse to thee" in Tamburlaine the Great.

4. 4
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The amount of something produced by a process, source, or activity, especially the quantity of a crop, animal product, or natural resource that is harvested or obtained.

   Average wheat yield in the region rose to four tons per hectare.

   Drought cut the vineyard's yield by nearly a third.

   UsageUsually described as high or low and measured as a rate: a yield of four tons per hectare.

   Similaroutput, harvest, crop, production

   Note

   For crops, yield is usually a rate, not a pile: output divided by land, as in tons per hectare. It covers animal products too, such as wool, meat and milk, though these are usually counted per animal or per herd. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Crop yield is commonly measured as output per unit of land. databank.worldbank.org
   • Livestock yields include wool, meat and milk, commonly measured per animal. fao.org
5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The income or profit an investment produces, often expressed as a yearly percentage of its price or value.

   The utility stock's generous dividend pushed its yield above four percent.

   Investors compared the yield on ten-year notes with that on dividend stocks.

   UsageYou speak of the yield on a bond or stock, and a yield of four percent.

   Similarreturn, income, profit

   Note

   This is the number behind the headline: income divided by current price. A stock's yield therefore rises when its price falls, even if the dividend stays the same. The Economist in 2013 set government-bond yields beside cash and equities as competing returns. Used loosely, yield can also mean the profit itself rather than a percentage of price. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Current income yield is income divided by current price. fidelity.com
   • With an unchanged dividend, a falling share price raises dividend yield. fidelity.com
   • The Economist compared government-bond yields, cash returns and equities in 2013, in “The rise of smart beta,” dated July 6. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   verbintransitive

   To give way under pressure or force by bending, breaking, or collapsing; of a material, to deform permanently once stressed beyond its limit.

   The dam yielded under the relentless pressure of the floodwater.

   Well-built scaffolding should not yield even in strong winds.

   UsageOften with under: yielded under the weight. Common in the negative too: the door would not yield.

   Similarbuckle, give, collapse, bend, break

   Oppositehold, resist

   Note

   In Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), "the door did not yield" just before it bursts open. With to, the sense turns inward and figurative: in In Memoriam (1850), Tennyson writes of a nature that "rarely yields to that vague fear implied in death." In engineering, by contrast, giving way means deforming permanently. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Bram Stoker wrote Dracula, first published in 1897. britishlibrary.cn
   • The quoted words occur in Dracula immediately before the characters force the door open; they belong to Dr. Seward's diary narration. gutenberg.org
   • Alfred Tennyson's In Memoriam was first published in 1850. en.wikisource.org
   • Tennyson's poem contains the quoted description of his nature. en.wikisource.org
7. 7
   bomb powernouncountable or uncountable

   The energy a bomb releases in its explosion, typically given in tons of TNT equivalent and used especially of nuclear weapons.

   The Hiroshima bomb had a yield of roughly fifteen kilotons.

   Modern warheads vary widely in yield depending on their design.

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