Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- interjection Used to express mild fear or surprise.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- interjection humorous, slang Expressing
fear . - interjection humorous, slang Expressing
empathy withunpleasant orundesirable circumstances .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
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Examples
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Reagan campaigned in the South convincing white voters that their taxes were high, jobs were insecure and wages stagnant because of black workers, black welfare queens and people to whom he referred to as yikes "young bucks".
Obama's Speech and the Myth of Zero Sum Gain Ellen Beth Gill 2008
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Coming into the recent election if you were in the oil business you had to notice that every new speech then candidate Obama gave, touched on eliminating America's dependence on fossil fuels (yikes, that is your bread and butter).
David Blume: A Recipe for Cooking the American Consumer in Boiling Oil 2009
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Hi Pat, yikes, that is something to whine about for sure.
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He's three years younger than I am, and he liked a lot of things that I and my friends looked down on -- notably Grand Funk Railroad (they were an American band) and Emerson Lake & Palmer (yikes, that is one retro website).
Archive 2006-09-01 Ann Althouse 2006
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Coming into the recent election if you were in the oil business you had to notice that every new speech then candidate Obama gave, touched on eliminating America's dependence on fossil fuels (yikes, that is your bread and butter).
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Author's note - This is the big "yikes" part 1. Receive payment from our Customers or Clients.
Judy Shapiro: There's Nothing "Social" About Online Social Engineering Attacks Judy Shapiro 2010
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In Ohio, where NAFTA is a four letter word blamed for the loss of thousands of jobs, this is a "yikes" moment for Obama.
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It's a "yikes" moment for Republicans on Capitol Hill, but Candy, I think it's also a "yikes" moment for John McCain, because, you know, you and I are really seeing the inverse of one another in terms of the enthusiasm on the campaign trail.
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It seems to me this is pretty much a "yikes" moment for Republicans on Capitol Hill.
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Just to clarify, the "yikes" is not meant to be against JRJR though I'm no fan of Claremont's writing during this woefully latter-day period but Fall of the Mutants, X-men in Australia, and Silvestri.
Everybody’s Somebody’s Baby – Day Four | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources 2008
cricket commented on the word yikes
You know, like "ouch," "oh my god," "uh oh," that type of thing.
February 3, 2008
Logophile77 commented on the word yikes
Clean swear word.
March 5, 2018