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:
There is a monthly meeting to discuss whichever book the group has chosen and another "scrap and yap" session, which focuses on book journalling and craft.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
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
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
Ethel gave him a happy yap, and Fred scrambled up a ramp into the back of the van.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
Yap maintains a positive view on the Malaysian oil and gas sector, pegging Keyfield and Perdana Petroleum as its top picks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 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
“And then the blasted beagles run off and disappear altogether, yap! Yap, yap!”
From "The Unseen Guest" 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
Trunks slide across tiles and a little dog yaps and a conductor’s whistle blows and some kind of big machinery coughs to a start and then dies.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Beneath us, children played with buckets and shovels; dogs dozed and yapped; and a cast of more than a dozen sang of delayed flights and exploding volcanoes to a spare, insistently catchy electronic score.
From New York Times ● Sep. 16, 2021
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
He snapped and snarled and yapped at the conductor.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
It was evidence the U.S. spends too much time yapping about our domestic athletes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
"All that yapping and now I get to share it with the world."
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2026
I had no professional cooking experience and had never been to cooking school; I didn't expect anyone to read along to my yapping when there were actual experts out there.
From Salon ● Jan. 7, 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
They wrestled and rolled and clung to each other, one snarling and yapping, the other laughing.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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.
