give way
Idioms-
Retreat or withdraw, as in The army gave way before the enemy . [Early 1500s]
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Yield the right of way; also, relinquish ascendancy, as in The cars must give way to the parade , or The children were called inside as day gave way slowly to night . [Early 1700s]
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Collapse, fail, break down, as in The ladder gave way , or His health gave way under the strain . [Mid-1600s]
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Also, give way to . Yield to urging or demand, as in At the last minute he gave way and avoided a filibuster , or The owners gave way to their demands for a pay increase . [Mid-1700s]
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Also, give way to . Abandon oneself, lose self-control, as in She gave way to hysteria , or Don't give way to despair . [First half of 1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After coming off the bench against Sampdoria some 37 months ago, he could feel the knee giving way and asked to be taken off.
From BBC
The much-derided delayed opening of a new music arena has now given way to the city's hotels and bars being kept busy throughout the week with concert goers.
From BBC
In the 1980s, jukeboxes with 45s gave way to CD jukeboxes, then a generation later, to streaming ones.
Rather than exploding outward in a brilliant supernova, this star's core gave way under gravity and formed a black hole.
From Science Daily
But the early euphoria surrounding Yunus's leadership gradually gave way to frustration at the scale of the task.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
