Phrase guide

yes-no question

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A question that can only be answered by yes or no and does not allow for elaboration or detail.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • To make it clear for the jury, I will ask you a simple yes-no question. Did you enter the house on the night of the 15th?

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: binary question, polar question

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a question that can be answered by yes or no

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: question, interrogation, interrogative, interrogative sentence

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

18 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 一般疑問句 /一般疑问句 (yībān yíwènjù) — type of question
  • Chinese Mandarin: 是非問句 /是非问句 (shìfēi wènjù) — type of question
  • Danish: ja-nej spørgsmål — type of question
  • Finnish: kyllä tai ei -kysymys — type of question
  • French: question totale — type of question
  • German: Ja-Nein-Frage — type of question
  • German: Entscheidungsfrage — type of question
  • Ancient Greek: ἐρώτημα (erṓtēma) — type of question
  • Hungarian: eldöntendő kérdés — type of question
  • Japanese: 一般疑問文 (ippan gimonbun) — type of question
  • Polish: pytanie rozstrzygające — type of question
  • Romanian: întrebare cu da sau nu — type of question
  • Russian: о́бщий вопро́с (óbščij voprós) — type of question
  • Russian: вопро́с, тре́бующий отве́та «да» и́ли «нет» — type of question
  • Spanish: pregunta cerrada — type of question
  • Spanish: pregunta de sí o no — type of question
  • Swahili: ndiyo-hakuna swali — type of question
  • Turkish: evet/hayır sorusu — type of question