Word.ws English Dictionary

yes, Virginia

Syllables: yes, Vir·gin·iaUK/ˈjɛs vəˈd͡ʒɪn.i.ə//ˈjɛs vəɹˈd͡ʒɪn.jə/

yes, Virginia phrase: used to express that something is true, despite skepticism by some people.

yes, virginia: used to express that something is true, despite skepticism by some people
Image: Francis Pharcellus Church, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Phrase

yes, Virginia

  1. (humorous, idiomatic) Used to express that something is true, despite skepticism by some people.
    • Yes, Virginia, there IS a speed limit at Broome Tech, and all violators will be duly punished.1964 June 4, Serg Naramore, Dick Barnett, “The Tinder Box”, in Peggy Telfer, Bob Herzog, editors, Tech Talk, volume XV, number 16, Binghamton, N.Y.: Broome Technical Community College, page 2
    • Yes, Virginia, there is a presidential election in 1984—and it has begun: A former Vice President goes ice fishing and poses with a puny perch dangling from his line. A 68-year-old Senator dons athletic shorts and runs a 60-yd. dash in a San Francisco track meet. […] Such hijinks can mean only one...1983 February 28, Walter Isaacson, “Opening the Silly Season”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 Apr 2016

Examples of yes, Virginia in a sentence

  • Yes, Virginia, there is a presidential election in 1984—and it has begun: A former Vice President goes ice fishing and poses with a puny perch dangling from his line.1983 February 28, Walter Isaacson, “Opening the Silly Season”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original...
  • And yes, Virginia, the president and the Congress have disregarded most of what he has to say.1993, David Warsh, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Truth about Taxes”, in Economic Principles: The Masters and Mavericks of Modern Economics...

Origin of yes, Virginia

From a celebrated line in an editorial on September 27, 1897, by the American journalist Francis Pharcellus Church (1839–1906) in The Sun newspaper published in New York City, in response to eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon asking whether Santa Claus was real: “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.”

Words that rhyme with yes, Virginia

Questions about yes, Virginia

What does yes, Virginia mean?
Yes, Virginia means used to express that something is true, despite skepticism by some people.
How do you use yes, Virginia in a sentence?
Yes, Virginia, there is a presidential election in 1984—and it has begun: A former Vice President goes ice fishing and poses with a puny perch dangling from his line.
What part of speech is yes, Virginia?
Yes, Virginia is a phrase.
How do you pronounce yes, Virginia?
Yes, Virginia is pronounced /ˈjɛs vəˈd͡ʒɪn.i.ə/ (UK).

Words near yes, Virginia in the dictionary

  1. yes way
  2. yes woman
  3. yes women
  4. yes'm
  5. yes, and
  6. yes, Virginia
  7. yes-brainer
  8. yes-brainers
  9. yes-huh
  10. yes-man
  11. yes-men

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: yes, Virginia (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-yes, Virginia.wav.

Cite this entry: “yes, Virginia.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/yes%2C_virginia. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.