Yahoos

Cultural

The crude, dirty “brutes” of the land of the Houyhnhnms in Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift. The Yahoos are irrational people and represent the worst side of humanity. By contrast, the wise and gentle Houyhnhnms, their masters, are rational horses and represent humanity at its best.

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A “yahoo” is an uncouth or uncivilized person.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

You’re doing all the right stuff by yourself, and you’re among professionals, medical professionals, not Yahoos, and you can still have someone else make a mistake and your life is gone.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 13, 2026

However, the Yahoos also show us what humanity is not: something Gulliver fails to recognize.

From Nature • Sep. 26, 2017

New mom Mayer juggles work/life issues via a convenience not shared by other Yahoos: an on-site nursery and nanny she pays for herself.

From Time • Dec. 31, 2013

The American Fairy Tale, Fun House Style Of all the disagreeable species of humanlike beings Jonathan Swift invented in “Gulliver’s Travels,” the Yahoos are the worst and most human of all.

From New York Times • Jun. 27, 2013

He despised mankind because he found something despicable in Jonathan Swift, as he makes Gulliver hate the Yahoos in proportion to their likeness with himself.

From The Function of the Poet and Other Essays by Lowell, James Russell

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023