adverb
- (used to express affirmation or assent or to mark the addition of something emphasizing and amplifying a previous statement): Do you want that? Yes, I do.
- (used to express an emphatic contradiction of a previously negative statement or command): Don’t do that! Oh, yes I will!
- (used, usually interrogatively, to express hesitation, uncertainty, curiosity, etc.): “Yes?” he said as he opened the door. That was a marvelous show! Yes?
- (used to express polite or minimal interest or attention.)
noun, plural yes·es.
- an affirmative reply.
verb (used with object), yessed, yes·sing.
- to give an affirmative reply to; give assent or approval to.
interjection
- (used as a strong expression of joy, pleasure, or approval.)
sentence substitute
- used to express acknowledgment, affirmation, consent, agreement, or approval or to answer when one is addressed
- used, often with interrogative intonation, to signal someone to speak or keep speaking, enter a room, or do something
noun
- an answer or vote of yes
- (often plural) a person who votes in the affirmative
Old English gise, gese “so be it!,” probably from gea, ge “so” (see yea) + si “be it!,” third person imperative of beon “to be” (see be). Originally stronger than simple yea. Used in Shakespeare mainly as an answer to negative questions. Yes-man is first recorded 1912, American English.