trade
Americannoun
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the act or process of buying, selling, or exchanging commodities, at either wholesale or retail, within a country or between countries.
domestic trade; foreign trade.
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the act of buying, selling, or exchanging stocks, bonds, or currency.
Stock brokerages typically charge a commission per trade.
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a purchase or sale; business deal or transaction.
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an exchange of items, usually without payment of money.
- Synonyms:
- swap
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Sports. the transfer of a player or players among professional teams.
a midseason trade.
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any occupation pursued as a business or livelihood.
- Synonyms:
- craft, living, employment, métier, vocation
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some line of skilled manual or mechanical work; craft.
the trade of a carpenter; printer's trade.
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people engaged in a particular line of business.
a lecture of interest only to the trade.
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market.
an increase in the tourist trade.
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a field of business activity.
a magazine for the furniture trade.
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the customers of a business establishment.
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Informal. trade paper.
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trades. trade wind.
verb (used with object)
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to buy and sell; barter; traffic in.
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to exchange.
to trade seats.
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Sports. to transfer (a player under contract) from one team to another.
The manager traded two defensive players at the end of the season.
verb (used without object)
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to carry on trade.
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to be bought, sold, or exchanged.
Stocks traded lower after the release of the jobs report.
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to traffic (usually followed byin ).
a tyrant who trades in human lives.
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to make an exchange.
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to make one's purchases; shop; buy.
adjective
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of or relating to trade or commerce.
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used by, serving, or intended for a particular trade.
trade journal.
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Also trades. of, composed of, or serving the members of a trade.
a trade club.
verb phrase
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trade in to give (a used article) as payment to be credited toward a purchase.
We trade in our car every three years.
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trade down to exchange a more valuable or desirable item for a less valuable or desirable one.
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trade up to exchange a less valuable or desirable item for a more valuable or desirable one.
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trade off to exchange something for or with another.
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trade on / upon to turn to one's advantage, especially selfishly or unfairly; exploit.
to trade on the weaknesses of others.
noun
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the act or an instance of buying and selling goods and services either on the domestic (wholesale and retail) markets or on the international (import, export, and entrepôt) markets
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a personal occupation, esp a craft requiring skill
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the people and practices of an industry, craft, or business
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exchange of one thing for something else
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the regular clientele of a firm or industry
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amount of custom or commercial dealings; business
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a specified market or business
the tailoring trade
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an occupation in commerce, as opposed to a profession
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commercial customers, as opposed to the general public
trade only
trade advertising
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slang:homosexual a sexual partner or sexual partners collectively
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archaic a custom or habit
verb
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(tr) to buy and sell (commercial merchandise)
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to exchange (one thing) for another
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(intr) to engage in trade
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(intr) to deal or do business (with)
we trade with them regularly
adjective
Synonym Usage
Trade , commerce , traffic refer to the exchanging of commodities for other commodities or money. Trade is the general word: a brisk trade between the nations. Commerce applies to trade on a large scale and over an extensive area: international commerce. Traffic may refer to a particular kind of trade; but it usually suggests the travel, transportation, and activity associated with or incident to trade: the opium traffic; heavy traffic on the railroads. See occupation. Trade , bargain , barter , sell refer to exchange or transfer of ownership for some kind of material consideration. Trade conveys the general idea, but often means to exchange articles of more or less even value: to trade with Argentina. Bargain suggests a somewhat extended period of coming to terms: to bargain about the price of a horse. Barter applies especially to exchanging goods, wares, labor, etc., with no transfer of money for the transaction: to barter wheat for machinery. Sell implies transferring ownership, usually for a sum of money: to sell a car.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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intertradenoun
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nontradenoun
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retradeverb
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undertradeverb
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nontradingadjective
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protradeadjective
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tradableadjective
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tradeableadjective
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tradelessadjective
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untradableadjective
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untradeableadjective
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untradedadjective
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untradingadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tradesimple
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tradessimple
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have tradedperfect
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has tradedperfect
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am tradingprogressive
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are tradingprogressive
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is tradingprogressive
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have been tradingperfect progressive
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has been tradingperfect progressive
Past
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tradedsimple
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had tradedperfect
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was tradingprogressive
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were tradingprogressive
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had been tradingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of trade
First recorded in 1300–50; 1540–50 trade for def. 6; Middle English: “course, path, track,” from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch ( Old Saxon trada ), cognate with Old High German trata; akin to tread
Explanation
When Bobby has peanut butter but wants bologna and Billy has bologna but wants peanut butter––they can make a trade. Trade also means a set of job skills––to learn a trade means to train for a certain job. The concept of trading––or bartering––forms the basis of modern civilization––it brings along division of labor, literacy, urbanization. Thinking in those terms you can see how tradespeople––those trained in trades end up essentially trading their services, with money being introduced when the barter system breaks down or becomes too complex.
Vocabulary lists containing trade
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 2
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!
Can I Work It? Words for "Job"
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!
The ACT Reading Test: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 2
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
On Monday, they fell as much as 4% to trade at a new low, while SpaceX bonds were also hit hard.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Despite not being authorised to, Burford had offered trade alerts and investment opportunities in "managed funds" through his firm Financial Trading Strategies between 2016 and 2021.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Workers there would enjoy employment and site protection until 2035, it said after negotiations with the general works council and trade unions.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Drivers include trade diversification, continued port capacity investments and the liner industry’s improved ability to pay higher port charges, the analyst says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
The three of us trade glances with one another.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
The stock trades at a forward P/E of 31.3.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
The Rams, as is seemingly their custom with a Super Bowl scheduled to be played at SoFi Stadium, made blockbuster trades to improve an already star-studded roster.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Martinez noted that Goldman now trades on just 13 times 2027 earnings, its multiple having compressed from 15 times before the second-quarter release.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
On-again-off-again appetite for artificial-intelligence trades is fueling volatility in the country’s benchmark Kospi index, with swings driven by the stocks of two chip makers central to the global AI build-out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
I’m a jack of all trades, so to speak, master of few and so is Perry.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
This was also the second flight for this version of Starship, called V3, and its first flight as a publicly traded company.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
Devey was traded to the San Francisco 49ers months later.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
The investigation was however unable to determine where alumina was traded once it entered Russia because of a lack of internal Russian trade data, he added.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
But the combination of foods businesses had left some investors in London-based Unilever leery of holding shares in a large publicly traded U.S. food company, analysts have said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Soviet officials based in New York traded jokes about the words that would appear on their tombstones.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
The stock isn’t cheap, trading at a forward P/E of 57.3, but all eight sell-side analysts covering Mama’s rate the stock a buy, according to LSEG.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Luxfer said the deal represents a 31% premium to its closing share price of $13.29 on April 28, the last trading day before its first-quarter earnings release, when the company announced a strategic review.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
In 1994 he left academia to bring machine learning to Wall Street, then founded SCT Capital, one of the first hedge funds built entirely on machine-driven trading.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
CXMT’s shares are up 531% on their trading debut, at 54.65 yuan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
The people who worked on the relevant Goldman Sachs mortgage bond trading desk were all extremely intelligent.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
