yes
/jɛs
/exclamation
1Used to give an affirmative response: ‘Do you understand?’ ‘Yes.’...
- My response is yes, and that is a danger that we worked out when we took the decision.
- I don't hear a lot of calls on behalf of economic officials saying, yes, please come and invest.
- I asked Craig if he would consider making a jump with him, Craig's response was a resounding yes!
Synonyms
all right, alright, very well, of course, by all means, sure, certainly, absolutely, indeed, affirmative, in the affirmative, agreed, roger
Scottish, Northern English, & archaic aye
Nautical aye aye
informal yeah, yah, yep, yup, uh-huh, okay, OK, okey-dokey, okey-doke
British informal righto, righty-ho
North American informal surely
Indian informal acha
archaic or formal yea
1.1Expressing agreement with a positive statement: ‘That was a grand evening.’ ‘Yes, it was.’...
- Although felt extremely happy when I heard that, I could not give a big positive yes at the moment he asked.
- Of course, yes, certainly, it was a chance to be associated with the games.
- We would be in a better position economically now, yes, definitely.
1.2Asked at the end of a statement to indicate the expectation of agreement: you think I perhaps killed Westbourne, yes?
1.3Expressing contradiction of a negative statement: ‘You don’t want to go.’ ‘Yes, I do.’
2Used as a response to someone addressing one or trying to attract one’s attention: ‘Oh, Mr Lawrence.’ ‘Yes?’
3Used to question a remark: ‘It should be easy to check.’ ‘Oh yes? How?’
4Encouraging someone to continue speaking: ‘When you bought those photographs ...’ ‘Yes?’
5Expressing great pleasure or excitement: plenty to eat, including hot hamburger sandwiches (yes!)
6Expressing irritation or impatience: ‘Is the pain still there?’ ‘Yes, yes, damn you, the pain is always there’...
- I start to drum my fingernails on my purse, out of habit, boredom, and yes, irritation.
- Yes, yes, obviously I've an interest; obviously I'm hoping you're going to rush to the bookshop to buy mine.
- Yes, yes, I know all of this will pass but why can't it pass NOW?
noun (plural yeses or yesses)
An affirmative answer or decision, especially in voting: answering with assured and ardent yeses...
- Rilla counted them up as each name was called, and found a large majority of yesses.
- I smiled thoughtfully to myself as I ticked off the amount of yeses on my fingers.
- So, if you're reading this could you please post a yes or a no as to whether you are on the Organ Donor register.
Phrases
yes and no
Origin
Old English gēse, gīse, probably from an unrecorded phrase meaning 'may it be so'.