GIVE WAY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does give way mean? 

• GIVE WAY (verb)
  The verb GIVE WAY has 4 senses:

1. move in order to make room for someone for something

2. break down, literally or metaphorically

3. end resistance, as under pressure or force

4. stop operating or functioning

  Familiarity information: GIVE WAY used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GIVE WAY (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move in order to make room for someone for something

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

ease up; give; give way; move over; yield

Context example:

'Move over,' he told the crowd

Hypernyms (to "give way" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Verb group:

abandon; give up (stop maintaining or insisting on; of ideas or claims)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

These cars won't give way

Sense 2

Meaning:

Break down, literally or metaphorically

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

break; cave in; collapse; fall in; founder; give; give way

Context example:

The roof finally gave under the weight of the ice

Hypernyms (to "give way" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Verb group:

abandon; give up (stop maintaining or insisting on; of ideas or claims)

burst; collapse (cause to burst)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "give way"):

go off; implode (burst inward)

buckle; crumple (fold or collapse)

flop (fall loosely)

break (curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves)

sink; slide down; slump (fall or sink heavily)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 3

Meaning:

End resistance, as under pressure or force

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

give way; yield

Context example:

The door yielded to repeated blows with a battering ram

Hypernyms (to "give way" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 4

Meaning:

Stop operating or functioning

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

break; break down; conk out; die; fail; give out; give way; go; go bad

Context example:

her eyesight went after the accident

Hypernyms (to "give way" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Verb group:

break (render inoperable or ineffective)

buy the farm; cash in one's chips; choke; conk; croak; decease; die; drop dead; exit; expire; give-up the ghost; go; kick the bucket; pass; pass away; perish; pop off; snuff it (pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "give way"):

crash; go down (stop operating)

blow; blow out; burn out (melt, break, or become otherwise unusable)

misfire (fail to fire or detonate)

malfunction; misfunction (fail to function or function improperly)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

 Context examples 

I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I do not advise you to give way to it, Harriet.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

They saw Charles turn and make one step to run back, and then a whole section of ice give way and dogs and humans disappear.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

My dear, do not give way to such gloomy thoughts.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Her plan of sitting with Lady Russell must give way for the present.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

But Mr. Micawber being in difficulties, all considerations of private feeling must give way.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He glared back at me with hard angry eyes, but I refused to give way.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then the other pretended to give way, and said, “Thou must let the sack of wisdom descend, by untying yonder cord, and then thou shalt enter.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Why should you give way to these mad islanders?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One must give way to the other.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)