consignment

American  

[kuhn-sahyn-muhnt] / kənˈsaɪn mənt /

noun

consignments plural

1. the act of consigning.

2. something that is consigned.

3. Commerce. property sent to an agent for sale, storage, or shipment.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or shipped as goods on consignment.

   consignment selling of gift items.

idioms

1. on consignment, (of goods) sent to an agent for sale, with title being held by the consignor until a sale is made.

consignment British  

/ kənˈsaɪnmənt /

noun

1. the act of consigning; commitment

2. a shipment of goods consigned

3. for payment by the consignee after sale

   he made the last shipment on consignment

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonconsignment
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• consignments
  plural

Etymology

Origin of consignment

First recorded in 1555–65; consign + -ment

Explanation

Consignment means the delivery of things, like clothing or furniture, for sale or donation to someone else. A "consignment shop" is a clothing store that sells other people's clothing and goods. Consignment is a commercial term that refers to a giving over of objects. If your goods are on consignment, you still technically own them while they are on sale at the consignment shop. The word sometimes refers literally to goods being delivered or shipped, such as food or cargo. Consignment can also mean entrusting a person into the care of someone else, as when you put your aging grandparents in an old-aged home.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

consignment consignments

When Ed’s health began to fade in 2023, his son, Bryan, arranged with a Keizer, Ore., store called Bricks & Minifigs—the local franchise of a nationwide chain of Lego resellers—to sell the collection on consignment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

They also claim Law had violated corporate policy by agreeing to sell the collection on consignment.

From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026

After gas spending, miscellaneous retailers—a category including gift shops and consignment stores—registered the highest growth in sales with a 2.3% monthly gain.

From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026

Mayweather wrote a check for $200,000 to Las Vegas high-end consignment store Gold and Beyond for the timepiece on Dec. 25, 2024.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026

“New consignment just in from Arabia. Never seen one before?”

From "Tiger, Tiger" by Lynne Reid Banks

Archived, whose clientele consists mostly of celebrities and high-profile curators such as Timothée Chalamet, Travis Scott and Don Toliver, sources its pieces through consignments from sellers and endless hours spent hunting across international marketplaces.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026

"We're seeing 20 to 30 percent more engagement, more registration, more people bidding," Ibrahim Faraj, Propstore's UK consignments manager, explained at a media preview of some British-based items before they headed to California.

From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026

And they are no longer paying him on delivery, he says, instead adopting a "sale or return" model where consignments not sold are returned to the company, entirely transferring the risk to the manufacturer.

From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2025

The group had reportedly gone to the farm in search of edible food from consignments of recently expired or soon-to-be-expired produce.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2024

A very interesting communication from Mr Williams accompanied one of the consignments, extracts of which I will quote.

From The Romance of Natural History, Second Series by Gosse, Philip Henry

Related Words

• batch
• delivery
• goods
• shipment