price
noun
the sum or amount of money or its equivalent for which anything is bought, sold, or offered for sale.
price
1 American
[prahys]
/ praɪs /
noun
-
prices
plural
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the sum or amount of money or its equivalent for which anything is bought, sold, or offered for sale.
-
a sum offered for the capture of a person alive or dead.
The authorities put a price on his head.
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the sum of money, or other consideration, for which a person's support, consent, etc., may be obtained, especially in cases involving sacrifice of integrity.
They claimed that every politician has a price.
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that which must be given, done, or undergone in order to obtain a thing.
He gained the victory, but at a heavy price.
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odds.
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Archaic. value or worth.
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Archaic. great value or worth (usually preceded byof ).
verb (used with object)
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prices,
present (3rd person singular)
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priced,
past participle, past
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pricing
present participle
-
to fix the price of.
-
to ask or determine the price of.
We spent the day pricing furniture at various stores.
idioms
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at any price, at any cost, no matter how great.
Their orders were to capture the town at any price.
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beyond / without price, of incalculable value; priceless.
The crown jewels are beyond price.
Price
2
American
[prahys]
/ praɪs /
noun
-
Bruce, 1845–1903, U.S. architect.
-
(Edward) Reynolds, 1933–2011, U.S. novelist.
-
(Mary) Leontyne born 1927, U.S. soprano.
-
a male given name.
price
British
/ praɪs /
noun
-
the sum in money or goods for which anything is or may be bought or sold
-
the cost at which anything is obtained
-
the cost of bribing a person
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a sum of money offered or given as a reward for a capture or killing
-
value or worth, esp high worth
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gambling another word for odds
-
whatever the price or cost
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at a high price
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invaluable or priceless
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what someone deserves, esp a fitting punishment
it's just the price of him
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what are the chances of something happening now?
verb
-
to fix or establish the price of
-
to ascertain or discover the price of
-
to charge so highly for as to prevent the sale, hire, etc, of
price
More Idioms
Synonym Usage
Price, charge, cost, expense refer to outlay or expenditure required in buying or maintaining something. Price is used mainly of single, concrete objects offered for sale; charge, of services: What is the price of that coat? There is a small charge for mailing packages. Cost is mainly a purely objective term, often used in financial calculations: The cost of building a new annex was estimated at $10,000. Expense suggests cost plus incidental expenditure: The expense of the journey was more than the contemplated cost. Only charge is not used figuratively. Price, cost, and sometimes expense may be used to refer to the expenditure of mental energy, what one “pays” in anxiety, suffering, etc.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pricesimple
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pricessimple
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have pricedperfect
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has pricedperfect
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am pricingprogressive
-
are pricingprogressive
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is pricingprogressive
-
have been pricingperfect progressive
-
has been pricingperfect progressive
Past
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pricedsimple
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had pricedperfect
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was pricingprogressive
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were pricingprogressive
-
had been pricingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of price
First recorded in 1175–1225; (noun) Middle English pris(e), from Old French, Latin pretium “price, value, worth” ( cf. precious); (verb) late Middle English prisen, from Middle French prisier, derivative of pris, Old French as above; see prize 2, praise
Explanation
The price of something is how much it costs. It’s usually money, but sometimes not. For example, the price of staying up all night is that you’re really sleepy the next day. Wake up! You can use the noun price to mean the money exchanged for an item or service — or use it figuratively, to mean "something negative that's required in exchange for something positive." If you hear the phrase "a small price to pay," think of this figurative meaning. You could say, for example, that having clouds of pet hair all over your house is a small price to pay for your wonderful cat.
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.
See Examples For:
When hostilities kicked off in the Middle East earlier this year, the gold price corrected 20% while copper’s held steady.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
Intel also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 31.6 million additional shares at the offering price.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Atlanta, who attended the event with her two children, raised concerns about the quality and price of food.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
While a surprise loss of more than 20,000 jobs in the US economy last month eased fears of a Federal Reserve hike, a spike in price pressures could force the bank's hand.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
We were charged with protecting history at all costs, while they were happy to change history for the right price.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
That frustration was shared by Paul Price, who survived the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017 but lost his partner, Elaine McIver.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Price discovery is critical, else you get hoarding, shortages and bare shelves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
“Retirement planning isn’t about minimizing taxes this year, it’s about minimizing taxes over your lifetime,” said Easton Price, a certified financial planner at Prosperity Wealth Planning.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 8, 2026
Recent examples include OpenAI’s disproof of the unit distance conjecture, and the proof of Erdős’ problem 1196 by Liam Price, a 23-year-old amateur mathematician.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026
And suddenly Cal Price is standing in front of me, nudging my foot with the toe of his sneaker.
From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli
One other factor leading to higher prices is the continued disruption to mine supply.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
Bond markets soured to rising oil prices as hopes for a U.S.-Iran deal over Hormuz faded, and Treasury yields rose.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
The lack of a near-term solution to the Middle East conflict is driving up oil prices and raising concerns that inflation could force central banks to raise interest rates in the coming months.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
“Yet the oil market remains very headline-driven, which leaves prices whipsawing.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
What there is for sale, the prices are expensive.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
Its makers priced a season’s protection at a fraction of the old drug’s cost, delivered it in a single shot, and chased a recommendation for every newborn in America rather than a lucrative few.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
When former taco stand El Ruso opened its flagship in Studio City last month, burritos wrapped in 18-inch Sonoran flour tortillas and stuffed with rib-eye or chile Colorado were priced at $20 each.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
It wasn’t outrageously priced like some high-end, on-site hotels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Here is the part few investors have priced.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
When cotton bales are weighed and priced, Mr. Thompson takes seventy percent of the profit.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The supply of HBM is getting tighter, and pricing for HBM4 and HBM4E is “even stronger than our prior expectations,” UBS’s Arcuri said in a note.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
Fifa has claimed the World Cup is "under-monetised", but hydration break adverts, dynamic ticket pricing and record broadcast and sponsorship rights have put the 2026 edition on track to generate record revenues.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
“We don’t believe that the market should be pricing in aggressive rate-hiking action.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
LA28 said it would not use dynamic pricing for the early stages of ticketing, but prices could change as the Games get closer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
The next day at work, I was pricing cans.
From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
