yield - Dictionary definition and pronunciation

yield

ld) KEY

VERB:
yield·ed , yield·ing , yields
VERB:
tr.

1. To give forth by or as if by a natural process, especially by cultivation: a field that yields many bushels of corn.
2. To furnish as return for effort or investment; be productive of: an investment that yields high percentages.
1. To give over possession of, as in deference or defeat; surrender.
2. To give up (an advantage, for example) to another; concede.

VERB:
intr.

1. To give forth a natural product; be productive.
2. To produce a return for effort or investment: bonds that yield well.
1. To give up, as in defeat; surrender or submit.
2. To give way to pressure or force: The door yielded to a gentle push.
3. To give way to argument, persuasion, influence, or entreaty.
4. To give up one's place, as to one that is superior: yielded to the chairperson.

NOUN:

1. An amount yielded or produced; a product.
2. A profit obtained from an investment; a return.
The energy released by an explosion, especially by a nuclear explosion, expressed in units of weight of TNT required to produce an equivalent release: The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had a yield of 20 kilotons.

ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English yielden, from Old English geldan, to pay

OTHER FORMS:
yielder (Noun)

SYNONYMS:
yield , relent , bow , defer ² , submit , capitulate , succumb

These verbs all mean to give in to what one can no longer oppose or resist. Yield has the widest application: My neighbor won't yield to reason. "The child ... soon yielded to the drowsiness" (Charles Dickens). To relent is to moderate the harshness or severity of an attitude or decision: "The captain at last relented, and told him that he might make himself at home" (Herman Melville). Bow suggests giving way in defeat or through courtesy: "Bow and accept the end/Of a love" (Robert Frost). To defer is to yield out of respect for or in recognition of another's authority, knowledge, or judgment: "Philip ... had the good sense to defer to the long experience and the wisdom of his father" (William Hickling Prescott). Submit implies giving way out of necessity, as after futile or unsuccessful resistance: "obliged to submit to those laws which are imposed upon us (Abigail Adams). Capitulate implies surrender to pressure, force, compulsion, or inevitability: "I will be conquered; I will not capitulate [to illness]" (Samuel Johnson). Succumb strongly suggests submission to something overpowering or overwhelming: "I didn't succumb without a struggle to my uncle's allurements'' (H.G. Wells). See also Synonyms at produce, relinquish.

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