give way

phrase

1

a

: retreat

b

: to yield the right of way

2

: to yield oneself without restraint or control

3

a

: to yield to or as if to physical stress

The roof gave way under heavy snow.

b

: to yield to entreaty or insistence

After several hours of debate, the opposition finally gave way.

4

: to yield place

Farmland has given way to shopping malls.

5

: to begin to row

Examples of give way in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the city of Hurricane in far southwestern Utah, a shipping container drifting down a street gave way Friday to a mess of mud and debris to be cleaned up as people who had evacuated earlier in the week returned home. — Mead Gruver, Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2026

Those failed rallies eventually gave way to a correction of approximately 10%, accompanied by the Iran conflict. — Frank Cappelleri, CNBC, 23 Oct. 2026

Recently, my ankle gave way while hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains. — Diana Daniele, Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2026

Anisha Patel-Dunn, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer of LifeStance Health, told CNBC that the slide into seasonal depression tends to begin as summer gives way to shorter afternoons and darker mornings. — Hanna Wickes, Miami Herald, 23 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for give way

• aaa
• alleyway
• alumnae
• anime
• anyway
• arete
• attache
• axillae
• baa
• beaujolais
• bouvier
• breakaway