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

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”

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

Delsia Bare and her mother, Ida Huddleston, refused a $26 million offer from a data center builder to buy the farm land that had been in their family nearly 200 years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

Anyone wishing to buy a gun must first apply for a purchase permit, then, once they have bought it, apply for a second possession permit.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

Some of my better local farmers markets sell it in sweet little rounds, but you can also buy it from your local supermarket.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

Sinden, who is a community worker from nearby Stanley, said the bank struggled to get donations of baby milk "because it is so expensive" and instead relied on grants to buy the formula in.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

How funny that we dug up all that gold, but we could never afford to buy it back.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

So if a new buyer buys a home at a significantly higher price, then they could be on track to pay a much higher tax bill.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026

The contractor buys its own trucks and hires its own drivers to make the deliveries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

“Abbott’s call for a ‘pause’ could be for one day – and no one buys it,” she said in a statement this week.

From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026

She tries to get most of her children's uniforms second-hand anyway, but always buys the blazer, which costs around £30, as she likes them to have a new one.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

My mouth flapped open like the fish Mom buys at the market for “No Meat Fridays.”

From "P.S. I Miss You" by Jen Petro-Roy

Ella Miller and Alex Kovach bought a home in one such area, East Baltimore’s Johnston Square, where nonprofit developer ReBUILD Metro has halved the number of vacant homes in recent years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

“I took off on a horse at 11 years old when my daddy bought me my first one,” she said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

It was the second time her nan had lived in the bungalow, having bought it back after previously selling it.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

In 2009, he merged his company into Natural Food Holdings, which was later bought by Perdue Farms.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

Getting Momma Bear’s attention had bought George a precious few seconds of not being attacked, but Owen didn’t know what to do next.

From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz

U.S. officials say Hengli is one of the biggest players in a vast ecosystem of “teapot” refineries in China that for years have been buying sanctioned oil.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

Don’t get bogged down by complicated recipes that require buying lots of new ingredients — simple meals work.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 16, 2026

The billionaire focuses on buying what he views as high-quality growth companies.

From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026

Then, the hosts discuss the billionaires who are buying themselves fun little treats like the L.A.

From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2026

But when the meal was over, they watched Eisman grab Greg Lippmann, point to Wing Chau, and say, “Whatever that guy is buying, I want to short it.”

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Related Words

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