used to express fear or astonishment
Yikes! The pavement is hot!Scott Foresman
Another monster crawled through a different doorway, quickly followed by a third, and then a fourth. "Yikes!" said Annie.Mary Pope Osborne
Yikes! The 'mullet' rears its ugly head again …Vanessa Thorpe

Examples of yikes in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Racked with nerves, 23-year-old Wodark prepped her boyfriend's skin, put on rubber gloves and even started revving up the tattoo gun (yikes!). Samantha Brodsky, Good Housekeeping, 5 July 2017 In the dining room, walls coated in slate blue, gray blue, or navy blue with white shiplap (yes please!) were worth $1,926 more, and red dining rooms took a $2,031 hit (yikes!). Taysha Murtaugh, Country Living, 1 June 2017 Her looks often involve a lot of real props, including live snails, grass, flowers, wasps (yikes!), and fake blood. Rosemary Donahue, Allure, 28 May 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'yikes.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

probably alteration of yoicks

First Known Use

1941, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of yikes was in 1941

Dictionary Entries Near yikes

Cite this Entry

“Yikes.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yikes. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

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