Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
yeah, yeah

yeah, yeah

199 8.4
Shows you are not interested or impatient with what someone says
  • idiom
  • /jɛː jɛː/
  • Informal
translation icon : ya, ya
  • When I asked if he wanted to finish, he just said, 'Yeah, yeah,' and walked away.
  • yeah, yeah, I know
  • yeah, yeah, right
  • Oh, yeah, yeah

Examples

  • You are going to check this out? "No promises, no guarantees." "Yeah, yeah," Whitman said.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • - Oh, yeah? - Yeah.

    Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor (2013)

  • Yeah, yeah, I think you might have mentioned that.

    Hell of a Summer (2023)

  • Did you finish Johnny Tremaine for your book report? "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

    Fiction book (1999)

  • "I'll holler when I'm suited up and you come back in and check me over." "Yeah, yeah."

    Fiction book (1999)

  • She rolled her eyes and replied, 'Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.'

  • After I explained the problem, he responded, 'Yeah, yeah, I understand.'

Synonyms

bla
vsyeah, yeah
  • Informal
14 9.9

A short sound people make to show they are bored or not interested

is a dismissive reply showing impatience toward what another says
ehhh
vsyeah, yeah
  • Informal
2 9.9

A short sound people make to show doubt or lack of interest

is used to dismiss someone's words with impatience rather than doubt

How Indifferent

to care a hang
  • Archaic
1 9.9
whatever
  • Informal
4 4.7
yeah, yeah
  • Informal
199 8.4

Surface Forms

yeah main

Morphology

yeah, + yeah

The repeated form is built from the known interjection 'yeah', so learners will recognize affirmation/backchanneling, but the specific sense of indifference or impatience arises from pragmatic use, repetition and intonation rather than literal composition. Because the dismissive meaning is context- and prosody-dependent and not fully predictable from the parts (though repetition gives a partial cue that is cross-linguistically common), this is best classified as semi-transparent.

Etymology

Yeah, yeah comes from people saying yeah twice fast as a quick, bored answer when they do not want to listen. That's why it is used today to show 'indifference' or 'impatience'.