1
a
: an attendant or officer in a royal or noble household
b
: a person attending or assisting another : retainer
d
: a naval petty officer who performs clerical duties
2
a
: a person who owns and cultivates a small farm
specifically
: one belonging to a class of English freeholders below the gentry
b
: a person of the social rank of yeoman
3
: one that performs great and loyal service
did a yeoman's job in seeing the program through
Examples of yeoman in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Police and prosecutors are doing yeoman’s work to keep our communities safe and to keep people like Lawrence Reed from escaping justice only to harm again.
—
Boston Herald Editorial Staff, Boston Herald, 25 Nov. 2025
The teams processed the tedious paperwork and did the yeoman’s work to dig through all of the laborious insurance responsibilities.
—Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 15 Nov. 2025
Like the yeoman boys are out in the barn, half-naked, working out, buffing up and wearing animal heads and preparing for some kind of an inchoate battle with the burghers.
—Literary Hub, 13 Nov. 2025
In Altadena, Darlene Greene still did yeoman’s work to support her struggling constituents, and—in the absence of help from above—residents became the leaders their community needed.
—Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 10 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for yeoman
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Boston Herald Editorial Staff, Boston Herald, 25 Nov. 2025
The teams processed the tedious paperwork and did the yeoman’s work to dig through all of the laborious insurance responsibilities.
—Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 15 Nov. 2025
Like the yeoman boys are out in the barn, half-naked, working out, buffing up and wearing animal heads and preparing for some kind of an inchoate battle with the burghers.
—Literary Hub, 13 Nov. 2025
In Altadena, Darlene Greene still did yeoman’s work to support her struggling constituents, and—in the absence of help from above—residents became the leaders their community needed.
—Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 10 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for yeoman
Cite this Entry
“Yeoman.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yeoman. Accessed 9 Dec. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
yeoman
noun
yeo·man
ˈyō-mən 
1
a
: a servant in a royal or noble household
b
: a naval petty officer who works as a clerk
2
: a small landowning farmer
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