buy

American  

[bahy] / baɪ /

verb (used with object)

• buys,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bought,
  past participle,  past
• buying
  present participle

1. to acquire the possession of, or the right to, by paying or promising to pay an equivalent, especially in money; purchase.

   Antonyms:

   sell

2. to acquire by exchange or concession.

   to buy favor with flattery.

3. to hire or obtain the services of.

   The Yankees bought a new center fielder.

4. to bribe.

   Most public officials cannot be bought.

5. to be the monetary or purchasing equivalent of.

   Ten dollars buys less than it used to.

6. Chiefly Theology. to redeem; ransom.

7. Cards. to draw or be dealt (a card).

   He bought an ace.

8. Informal.

   1. to accept or believe.

      I don't buy that explanation.

   2. to be deceived by.

      He bought the whole story.

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verb (used without object)

• buys,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bought,
  past participle,  past
• buying
  present participle

1. to be or become a purchaser.

noun

• buys
  plural

1. an act or instance of buying.

2. something bought or to be bought; purchase.

   That coat was a sensible buy.

3. a bargain.

   The couch was a real buy.

verb phrase

1. buy into to purchase a share, interest, or membership in.

   They tried to buy into the club but were not accepted.

2. buy down to lower or reduce (the mortgage interest rate) by means of a buy-down.

3. buy out to secure all of (an owner or partner's) share or interest in an enterprise.

   She bought out an established pharmacist and is doing very well.

4. buy in Also buy into.

   1. to buy a supply of; accumulate a stock of.

   2. to buy back one's own possession at an auction.

   3. to undertake a buy-in.

5. buy off to get rid of (a claim, opposition, etc.) by payment; purchase the noninterference of; bribe.

   The corrupt official bought off those who might expose him.

6. buy up to buy as much as one can of something or as much as is offered for sale.

   He bought up the last of the strawberries at the fruit market.

idioms

1. buy it, to get killed.

   He bought it at Dunkirk.

buy British  

/ baɪ /

verb

1. to acquire by paying or promising to pay a sum of money or the equivalent; purchase

2. to be capable of purchasing

   money can't buy love

3. to acquire by any exchange or sacrifice

   to buy time by equivocation

4. (intr) to act as a buyer

5. to bribe or corrupt; hire by or as by bribery

6. slang to accept as true, practical, etc

7. to purchase shares of (a company)

   we bought into General Motors

8. (tr) theol (esp of Christ) to ransom or redeem (a Christian or the soul of a Christian)

9. slang to be killed

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noun

1. a purchase (often in the phrases good or bad buy )

Usage

The use of off after buy as in I bought this off my neighbour was formerly considered incorrect, but is now acceptable in informal contexts

Synonym Usage

Buy, purchase imply obtaining or acquiring property or goods for a price. Buy is the common and informal word, applying to any such transaction: to buy a house, vegetables at the market. Purchase is more formal and may connote buying on a larger scale, in a finer store, and the like: to purchase a year's supplies.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• rebuy
  verb
• prebuy
  verb (used with object)
• buyable
  adjective
• nonbuying
  adjective
• unbuyable
  adjective
• unbuying
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• buys
  plural

Participles

• buying
  present
• bought
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• buy
  simple
• buys
  simple
• have bought
  perfect
• has bought
  perfect
• am buying
  progressive
• are buying
  progressive
• is buying
  progressive
• have been buying
  perfect progressive
• has been buying
  perfect progressive

Past

• bought
  simple
• had bought
  perfect
• was buying
  progressive
• were buying
  progressive
• had been buying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will buy
  simple
• will have bought
  perfect
• will be buying
  progressive
• will have been buying
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of buy

First recorded before 1000; Middle English byen, variant of byggen, buggen, Old English bycgan; cognate with Old Saxon buggjan, Gothic bugjan “to buy,” Old Norse byggja “to lend, rent”

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Explanation

When you buy something, you pay money in order to own or obtain it. You might buy your mom a big bouquet of flowers for her birthday. When you buy furniture, food, a car, or candy, you purchase it, exchanging a certain amount of money for it, and when you call something "a buy" or "a steal," it's a real bargain. When you say, "She said she won the lottery, but I don't buy it," you mean that you don't accept that fact as the truth. Even more colloquially, to buy it can also mean "to be killed."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

buy buys bought buying

Guests get an address when they buy a ticket.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

For tenants, affordability is cheaper rent — and perhaps the option to buy their own home.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

At Craven Cattle Mart on the outskirts of Skipton, North Yorkshire, the auction ring is buzzing as farmers from across the Yorkshire Dales and Pennine Moors come to buy and sell livestock.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

Customers will need to buy Macs collectively packing at least 1 terabyte of memory to run the new model.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

“I’ll buy you a coffee, I’ll take the blame—anything, just switch places with me for today’s shift. Please.”

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

Turkish protesters have linked the headscarf rules to Azerbaijan's close ties with Israel, which sells weapons to Baku and buys Azerbaijani oil.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

“Nobody buys a gallon of diesel for their kitchen, and everybody pays for it anyway,” said Rob Carpenter, founder and chief intelligence officer at Tea Technologies, which runs a trucking safety and risk platform.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

CEO Ryan Cohen buys 844,000 shares in the videogame retailer, meaning he now owns more than 42 million overall.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

"I'm in a very privileged position to be able to do that... Buying your way out of the system or not being in at all is in itself a luxury. It buys you freedom."

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

The type of friend who brings you coffee made just the way you like it, buys you flowers, gives you books, and bakes you muffins.

From "Genuine Fraud" by E. Lockhart

Church bought the £1.5m, seven-bedroom property in 2021.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

ETF investors, Panigirtzoglou points out, bought into the first South Korean selloff using levered and unlevered funds, but so far in October’s Korea selloff 2.0, evidence of this buying is scant.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026

On Wednesday, retail investors bought a record amount of CoreWeave shares, according to Vanda Analytics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Proano bought season passes to the park that day and said she wants to find a way to get her money back.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

Deflecting, I lash out, “You’re going to hurt Father. He bought five chairs. Five. He sees you as family.”

From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

The Seagulls have an impressive record of buying promising talent for low prices before selling them on for significant fees.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

Options under discussion include buying a U.S. financial institution, merging with a European rival or selling itself to a U.S. firm.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

For instance, Truist Chief Investment Officer Keith Lerner is not buying the dip on semiconductors just yet.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026

Record-high home prices and soaring mortgage rates have priced out many younger buyers, leaving comparatively better-off boomers, who are now between the ages of 61 and 79, as the dominant force in home buying.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

So even if Haupt had money to spend, there was nothing worth buying anyway, unless he wanted to wear clothes made of cellulose "wool."

From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple

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Related Words

• acquire
• get
• market
• obtain
• procure
• purchase
• take

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