Yard — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

noun adjective verb /ˈyärd/

Meaning & Definition of Yard

Yard (noun)

  1. a small usually walled and often paved area open to the sky and adjacent to a building, court
  2. the grounds of a building or group of buildings
  3. the grounds immediately surrounding a house that are usually covered with grass
  4. any of various units of measure
  5. a unit of length equal in the U.S. to 0.9144 meter
  6. a unit of volume equal to a cubic yard

Yard (adjective)

  1. of, relating to, or employed in the yard surrounding a building
  2. of, relating to, or employed in a railroad yard

Yard (verb)

  1. to drive into or confine in a restricted area, herd, pen
  2. to deliver to or store in a yard
  3. to congregate in or as if in a yard

Yard (noun) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

  1. an open space wholly or partly enclosed (as by buildings or walls)

    "inmates are allowed an hour of exercise in the prison's inner yard"

    similar: close, court, courtyard, enclosure, patio, quad, quadrangle
    related: atrium, galleria, parvis, peristyle, forecourt, place, plaza, square, deck, terrace, curtilage

  2. the area around and belonging to a building

    "we're looking for a house with a big yard"

    similar: demesne, ground, park, premises
    related: acres, estate, land, lot, parcel, plot, property, real estate, realty, campus, backyard, churchyard, dooryard, close, enclosure, garden, garth, plaza

  3. a considerable amount

    "a composer who produced yards of gorgeous music over the course of a long career"

    similar: abundance, barrel, basketful, boatload, bucket, bunch, bundle, bushel, carload, chunk, deal, dozen, fistful, gobs, good deal, heap, hundred, lashings (chiefly British), loads, lot, mass, mess, mountain, much, multiplicity, myriad, oodles, pack, passel, peck, pile, plateful, plenitude, plentitude, plenty, pot, potful, profusion, quantity, raft, reams, scads, sheaf, shipload, sight, slew, spate, stack, store, ton, truckload, volume, wad, wealth, all kinds (of), quite a bit
    related: epidemic, plague, rash, bonanza, embarrassment, excess, overabundance, overage, overkill, overmuch, oversupply, plethora, redundancy, superabundance, superfluity, surfeit, surplus, deluge, flood, overflow, army, bevy, cram, crowd, crush, drove, flock, herd, horde, host, legion, mob, multitude, press, score, sea, swarm, throng, gazillion, jillion, kazillion, million, thousands, trillion, zillion
    opposite: ace, bit, dab, dram, driblet, glimmer, handful, hint, lick, little, mite, mouthful, nip, ounce, peanuts, pinch, pittance, scruple, shade, shadow, smidgen, speck, spot, sprinkle, sprinkling, strain, streak, suspicion, tad, taste, touch, trace
    near: atom, crumb, dot, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, grain, granule, iota, jot, modicum, molecule, mote, nubbin, particle, ray, scintilla, scrap, shred, tittle, whit, smatter, smattering, dash, drop, morsel, shot, piece, portion, section, absence, dearth, famine, lack, paucity, poverty, scarceness, scarcity, shortage, undersupply, want, deficiency, deficit, inadequacy, insufficiency, meagerness, scantiness, scantness, skimpiness

Related Entry: Yard sale (noun)

Yard sale is a different word from Yard. The synonyms below are for yard sale, not for yard.

  1. a sale of used household and personal items

    "there are signs up all over town advertising yard sales"

    similar: garage sale, tag sale
    related: jumble sale (British), rummage sale

Related Entry: Yard sales (noun)

Yard sales is a different word from Yard. The synonyms below are for yard sales, not for yard.

  1. a sale of used household and personal items

    "there are signs up all over town advertising yard sales"

    similar: garage sales, tag sales
    related: jumble sales (British), rummage sales

Synonyms, Thesaurus & Another Word for Yard

The most common words with a similar meaning to Yard:

Chiefly British: lashings
close, court, courtyard, enclosure, patio, quad, quadrangle, demesne, ground, park, premises, abundance, barrel, basketful, boatload, bucket, bunch, bundle, bushel, carload, chunk, deal, dozen, fistful, gobs, good deal, heap, hundred, loads, lot, mass, mess, mountain, much, multiplicity, myriad, oodles, pack, passel, peck

Antonyms & Opposite Words for Yard

Words with the opposite meaning of Yard:

ace, bit, dab, dram, driblet, glimmer, handful, hint, lick, little, mite, mouthful, nip, ounce, peanuts, pinch, pittance, scruple, shade, shadow, smidgen, speck, spot, sprinkle, sprinkling, strain, streak, suspicion, tad, taste

Related Words for Yard

atrium, galleria, parvis, peristyle, forecourt, place, plaza, square, deck, terrace, curtilage, acres, estate, land, parcel, plot, property, real estate, realty, campus, backyard, churchyard, dooryard, garden, garth, epidemic, plague, rash, bonanza, embarrassment

Near Antonyms of Yard

atom, crumb, dot, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, grain, granule, iota, jot, modicum, molecule, mote, nubbin, particle, ray, scintilla, scrap, shred, tittle, whit, smatter, smattering, dash, drop, morsel, shot, piece, portion, section

Word Forms of Yard

Inflections: yarded, yarding, yards

Origin & Etymology of Yard

Middle English yerd, going back to Old English geard "fence, enclosure, dwelling, home, district, country," going back to Germanic *garđa- (whence also Old Saxon gard "garden, dwelling, world," Middle Dutch gaert "garden, yard," Old High German gart "enclosure, circle, enclosed piece of property," Old Norse garðr "enclosure, courtyard," Gothic gards (i-stem) "house, household, courtyard"; from an n-stem *garđan-: Old Frisian garda "family property, courtyard," Old Saxon gardo "garden," Old High German garto), perhaps (if from *ghortós) going back to Indo-European *ghortos "enclosure," whence also Old Irish gort "arable or pasture field," Welsh garth "field, enclosure, fold," Breton garz "hedge," Latin hortus "garden," Greek chórtos "farmyard, pasturage"

First known use: before 12th century

Vocabulary Lists & Topics for Yard

Words & Phrases Containing Yard

yard goods, yard grass, yard line, yard-long bean, yard sale, yard work

Frequently Asked Questions about Yard

What does "Yard" mean?

"Yard" means a small usually walled and often paved area open to the sky and adjacent to a building, court. As an a noun, an adjective and a verb, it is defined as: a small usually walled and often paved area open to the sky and adjacent to a building, court. It has 3 distinct senses.

What is another word for "Yard"?

Other words for "Yard" include close, court, courtyard, enclosure, patio, quad, quadrangle and demesne. The best synonym depends on which meaning of "Yard" you intend.

What are different ways to say "Yard"?

There are 137 words and phrases with a similar meaning to "Yard". Common alternatives include close, court, courtyard, enclosure, patio, quad, quadrangle, demesne, ground and park.

What is the opposite of "Yard"?

Antonyms of "Yard" include ace, bit, dab, dram, driblet, glimmer, handful and hint. Near antonyms include atom, crumb, dot and fleck.

How do you use "Yard" in a sentence?

Examples of "Yard" in a sentence: "inmates are allowed an hour of exercise in the prison's inner yard"; "we're looking for a house with a big yard"; "a composer who produced yards of gorgeous music over the course of a long career".

Is "Yard" a noun, verb, or adjective?

"Yard" can be used as a noun, an adjective and a verb, depending on the context.

Is "Yard" useful for IELTS, TOEFL, and other English exams?

As an A2-level word, "Yard" is typical of Cambridge A2 Key (KET), PTE Academic 30–42, TOEIC Listening & Reading 225+.

How do you pronounce "Yard"?

"Yard" is pronounced /ˈyärd/.