Meanings
- humorousidiomaticUsed 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 22 more examples
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 thing: the quadrennial silly season has started again.
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 2016He [David Bradford] is perhaps the nation's preeminent tax scholar. 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, New York, N.Y.: The Free Press, →ISBN, page 226
Origin
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.”
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish kyllä vain
- kyllä vainused to express that something is true, despite skepticism by some people
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with yes, Virginia
All rhymes →Cite this entry
yes, Virginia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yes%2C%20Virginia
“yes, Virginia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yes%2C%20Virginia. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yes, Virginia,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yes%2C%20Virginia.
Source: yes, Virginia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.