yap
verb (used without object)
to bark sharply, shrilly, or snappishly; yelp.
yap
1 American
[yap]
/ jæp /
verb (used without object)
-
yaps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
yapped,
past participle, past
-
yapping
present participle
-
to bark sharply, shrilly, or snappishly; yelp.
-
Slang. to talk shrilly, noisily, or foolishly.
verb (used with object)
-
yaps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
yapped,
past participle, past
-
yapping
present participle
noun
-
yaps
plural
-
a sharp, shrill, or snappish bark; yelp.
-
Slang.
-
shrill, noisy, or foolish talk.
-
the mouth.
Keep your yap shut.
-
-
Slang. an uncouth or stupid person; bumpkin; fool.
Yap
2
American
[yahp, yap]
/ jɑp, jæp /
noun
yap
1
British
/ jæp /
verb
-
(of a dog) to bark in quick sharp bursts; yelp
-
informal to talk at length in an annoying or stupid way; jabber
noun
-
a high-pitched or sharp bark; yelp
-
slang annoying or stupid speech; jabber
-
slang a derogatory word for mouth
interjection
Yap
2
British
/ jɑːp, jæp /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
yapsimple
-
yapssimple
-
have yappedperfect
-
has yappedperfect
-
am yappingprogressive
-
are yappingprogressive
-
is yappingprogressive
-
have been yappingperfect progressive
-
has been yappingperfect progressive
Past
-
yappedsimple
-
had yappedperfect
-
was yappingprogressive
-
were yappingprogressive
-
had been yappingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of yap
1595–1605; 1900–05 yap for def. 5b; imitative
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.
See Examples For:
One of the gassiest debates in the NBA—and this is a gassy sport, its obsessive followers will yap about it until the ears tumble off your head—concerns what player is the “Face of the Sport.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
"It's mad people want to watch me yap," she says.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2025
At night, hungry coyotes yap and howl beyond the walls of Deborah’s ample, manicured yard.
From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2025
So, when the birds don't move around or yap in open spaces, that makes things more challenging for the humans.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2024
Skeezie: It’s okay, but If Tonni opens her big yap one more time about the way I eat… Addie: That happens to be the one thing Tonni and I agree on.
From "The Misfits" by James Howe
It’s common for tech companies like Kunlunxin to also consider a domestic listing, to be more comparable to their Chinese semiconductor peers, Citi analyst Alicia Yap says in a note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
Citi analyst Alicia Yap maintained a Buy rating and a target price of $186.
From Barron's ● May 8, 2026
“You have the power to choose coexistence over extinction,” Tiffany Yap, the center’s urban wildlands science director, told commissioners before the vote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2026
Citi analyst Alicia Yap said the release was “better than feared” as she reiterated her buy recommendation and a share-price target of $44 — roughly 40% above current levels.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 13, 2025
“In which case, we would make sure there was none. Yap, yap!”
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
There were a few joggers and a couple of people fishing directly from the beach, but it was otherwise peaceful, punctuated only by the dull roar of lapping waves and Tobi’s occasional yaps.
From New York Times ● Dec. 30, 2016
A small boy half-heartedly kicks a deflated plastic ball in and out of the parked cars and a dog, home alone in one of the terraced houses, repeatedly yaps his indignation.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2016
And yet it’s hard to deny the pleasure of watching somebody who yaps and yaps and yaps and then goes right out there and delivers on the yap.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2015
"He is not a guy who yaps all the time, so what he says is usually pretty significant."
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2015
Goose’s hackles rose along her back, and she began to bark in high, terrified yaps.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
And as I feared last week, the guys in the booth yapped way too much, including talking over a mic’d up Tiger and Phil.
From Golf Digest ● Nov. 27, 2018
In the Madison Square Park dog run, we went unnoticed until a Pomeranian caught sight of us and yapped so rambunctiously that the seal and I took refuge in a nearby Starbucks.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 19, 2018
Both wagged their tails excitedly when someone came to their kennel and yapped sadly when that person walked away.
From Slate ● Jun. 9, 2017
Wall and his nemesis Dennis Schroder also yapped at each other as the teams departed for the locker rooms.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 16, 2017
The dogs yapped at everyone who came near their little snouts.
From "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke
I’m a part of the problem, too, yapping about this silly kerfuffle six months out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
Offstage, he was a doddering, stammering dad shuffling around rooms bustling with yapping tiny dogs urinating everywhere.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2025
George Hirst went yapping to the referee and he got booked as well.
From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2025
The yapping mutts were just a sideshow, however, to the main event, which was announced from a dais by Sarah Furness, a local dignitary: the unveiling of Britain’s first memorial statue to Queen Elizabeth II.
From New York Times ● Apr. 22, 2024
Hornet and Prosper set the table together in the dining room while Mosca and Riccio chased each other from one floor to the other, always followed by Lucia's yapping dogs.
From "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke
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.
