sale
noun
the act of selling.
sale
American
[seyl]
/ seɪl /
noun
-
sales
plural
idioms
-
on sale, able to be bought at reduced prices.
-
for sale, offered to be sold; made available to purchasers.
sale
1
British
/ seɪl /
noun
-
the exchange of goods, property, or services for an agreed sum of money or credit
-
the amount sold
-
the opportunity to sell; market
there was no sale for luxuries
-
the rate of selling or being sold
a slow sale of synthetic fabrics
-
-
an event at which goods are sold at reduced prices, usually to clear old stocks
-
( as modifier )
sale bargains
-
-
an auction
Sale
2
British
/ seɪl /
noun
-
a town in NW England, in Trafford unitary authority, Greater Manchester: a residential suburb of Manchester. Pop: 55 234 (2001)
-
a city in SE Australia, in SE Victoria: centre of an agricultural region. Pop: 12 854 (2001)
Salé
3
British
/ sale /
noun
sale
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sale
First recorded before 1050; Middle English; late Old English sala; cognate with Old Norse, Old High German sala; cf. sell 1
Explanation
A sale is what occurs whenever an object or service is given in return for a payment of money. The sale of your old bike will happen more quickly if you price it at $50 instead of $500. You can talk about the sale of your next door neighbor's house, and you can also describe the house as "for sale," or available to be purchased. When a store has a sale, it means goods temporarily cost less than usual — you can also say that things at that store are "on sale." The word sale comes from the Old English sala, from a Germanic root.
Vocabulary lists containing sale
Century 21 Accounting, 9e, Chapters 1-3
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Spelling Practice, Unit 8
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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:
The potential sale is the latest development involving the Stellantis factory in Brampton, Ontario, which hasn’t operated since 2024 to undergo retooling.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
San Jose, Calif., saw a 25.5% increase in for-sale listings in August, per Redfin; a 15.8% jump in homes for sale in Nashville, Tenn.; a 13.7% increase in listings in Seattle.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
A deal was announced in February 2025, during Super Bowl week, and while some fans expressed anger at ticket prices when they went on sale in April 2026, they sold out in minutes.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
The Duo will go on sale in 70 countries beginning October 23, the company said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
Boaz turned away from her and started the sale.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Cap centurion Courtney Lawes, who has returned to English rugby with Sale after two seasons at Brive, believes the RFU should review the policy to ensure the best players are available.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
The 37-year-old is back in contention to add to his 105 England appearances, having signed a one-year deal with Sale after two seasons at Brive in the French second tier.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
But Sale remained and had an even bigger final moment of the game: one more strikeout.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Infantino, a 56-year-old Swiss lawyer -- who is holding the meeting in FIFA's Africa regional office in Sale close to Rabat -- was in Morocco to celebrate last week's Feast of the Enthronement.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
I was an empty house with a sign in front, Se Vende, For Sale.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
When she left the Kenyan team to take over AS Salé in February, she became the first female head coach of a men’s club team in the Arab world.
From Seattle Times ● May 26, 2022
Moskvina’s pair of Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won narrowly over the Canadians Jamie Salé and David Pelletier in a disputed outcome.
From New York Times ● Feb. 18, 2022
Ms. Cherkaoui, a stylish woman of 41 with dark, short-cropped hair, grew up in Salé, near the capital of Rabat.
From New York Times ● Oct. 8, 2018
The museum’s 17th-century home, the Hôtel Salé, in the historic Marais district, with its garden, courtyard and two-story, sculpture-encrusted entrance hall, has never been ideal for showing art.
From New York Times ● Oct. 27, 2014
Salé, the fierce old pirate town, where Robinson Crusoe was so long a slave, lay before us, snow-white in its cheese-coloured ramparts skirted by fig and olive gardens.
From In Morocco by Edith Wharton
Anyone wearing smart glasses can take photos, film videos, listen to music, make phone calls, translate text or interact with an AI assistant, with sales now hitting the millions.
From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026
Despite outperforming other fast food chains and posting impressive same-store sales, the Mexican-inspired chain Taco Bell has taken a hit after being linked to Cyclospora.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026
Rockstar's upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 is expected to break sales records when it is released on 19 November.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
For example, you could list a professional accomplishment: “Boosted sales by $1.5 million during the second quarter by adding 100 new clients.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
Before Prohibition, many states relied heavily on taxes from liquor sales to help fund their programs and expenses.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
