yielding

Pluralyieldings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of yield.

   The dam showed signs of yielding under the rising floodwater.

   By yielding the right of way, the cyclist avoided a crash.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs here. After be it is the participle (the dam was yielding), and in a noun slot it is the gerund (yielding the right of way averted a crash). It carries both halves of yield: producing (a field yielding wheat, an investment yielding a return) and giving way (yielding ground). The object, or its absence, usually tells you which is meant.

2. 2
   adjective

   Inclined to give way under pressure, whether physically soft to the touch or compliant and easily persuaded.

   The thick, yielding moss cushioned every step along the trail.

   His yielding temperament made him an easy target for pushy salespeople.

   Similarsoft, pliant, supple, compliant, docile

   Oppositefirm, hard, rigid, stubborn

   Note

   An adjective that began life as a participle: Old English ġieldende, from ġieldan "to yield, pay." Unlike the verb form, it can be graded (more yielding, most yielding), and it sits comfortably before a noun: yielding moss, a yielding temperament. Docile is its nearest match on the human side, but yielding keeps the physical picture of something giving under pressure.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A concession; something conceded or surrendered, especially as a compromise to reach agreement.

   The treaty was built on a series of careful yieldings by each nation.

   His yielding on that one point was enough to break the deadlock.

   Similarconcession, compromise, surrender

   Note

   A countable noun with its own history, formed in Middle English as yelding from yield plus -ing. Because it names a thing conceded rather than an action, it takes an article and a plural: a yielding, a series of yieldings. That is the easiest way to tell it from the gerund, which names the act itself and has no plural.

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