haggle
Americanverb (used without object)
-
haggles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
haggled,
past participle, past
-
haggling
present participle
-
to bargain in a petty, quibbling, and often contentious manner.
They spent hours haggling over the price of fish.
-
to wrangle, dispute, or cavil.
The senators haggled interminably over the proposed bill.
verb (used with object)
-
haggles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
haggled,
past participle, past
-
haggling
present participle
-
to mangle in cutting; hack.
-
to settle on by haggling.
-
Archaic. to harass with wrangling or haggling.
noun
verb
-
to bargain or wrangle (over a price, terms of an agreement, etc); barter
-
rare (tr) to hack
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hagglesimple
-
hagglessimple
-
have haggledperfect
-
has haggledperfect
-
am hagglingprogressive
-
are hagglingprogressive
-
is hagglingprogressive
-
have been hagglingperfect progressive
-
has been hagglingperfect progressive
Past
-
haggledsimple
-
had haggledperfect
-
was hagglingprogressive
-
were hagglingprogressive
-
had been hagglingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of haggle
1275–1325; Middle English haggen to cut, chop (< Old Norse hǫggva to hew ) + -le
Explanation
If you want a great deal on a used TV, then you can try to haggle with the sellers to see if they’ll bring the price down. To haggle is to negotiate or argue over something, usually a price. You can haggle at a flea market or anywhere where the price of items is flexible. But haggle doesn’t always refer to price. You can haggle over a job, a contract, or who gets to ride in the front seat. Haggling is relatively aggressive behavior, and this word is closer in meaning to wrangle than it is to negotiate. You’ll rarely hear of anyone haggling quietly. Haggle implies an argument in which both parties want the best deal for themselves.
Vocabulary lists containing haggle
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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:
However, if you haggle for a lower rate, he said, a broker will often try to get one for you.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
"I don't think we should be using the hereditary privilege we have in the Lords to haggle or negotiate for life peerages," the earl said.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
“Each piece represents a store we love, a lucky find or a successful haggle that ended with us carrying home something with history.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2026
I snagged the seats, breaking into a sweat over the cost but hopeful I could haggle with United later about who would pay for it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 6, 2026
Do you walk the streets of Tehran and marvel at the architecture and haggle your way through crowded bazaars?
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
In “Between Riverside and Crazy,” a Black man haggles over the concessions he’s being offered by his former employer, the New York Police Department, eight years after he was shot by a white cop.
From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2023
He haggles with a supermarket cashier, admires the paved roads, poses with a power mower to impress a cousin back home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2021
McGee notes that Washington often haggles as all sides try to cut a deal.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 1, 2020
The markets are always a necessary visit, and it helps that he speaks Cantonese and haggles for me.
From The Verge ● Dec. 15, 2017
Well, in future, just order him to do what you like, and just as if you were landlord, in fact; and if the old man haggles, write to me, and I'll blow him up.
From Two Years Ago, Volume II. by Charles Kingsley
A white-haired man in a Tommy Bahama shirt amiably haggled two dollars off his peaches.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
He has haggled about the price, which makes my brother think it’s a legit offer.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 10, 2025
As they haggled over the number of centrifuges Iran could build, they also defused potential crises.
From New York Times ● Apr. 15, 2024
When he collected the sweets from the wholesaler, he noticed they were darker than unusual so he haggled with confectioner Joseph Neal and saved half a penny per pound.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2023
Throughout those days, while we scratched and haggled for our daily bread, I had a photograph of President Eisenhower for company in my kitchen house.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Be prepared for haggling after the results themselves, mind.
From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2026
The corridors were packed with Chinese and foreign buyers haggling over prices, while shop owners touted products on live streams in front of glowing phone screens.
From Barron's ● Apr. 23, 2026
As it stands, the two sides are haggling over both money and the NFL’s vision for new measures that it believes would improve officiating quality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
The haggling may also be part of it.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 10, 2025
It takes some haggling to make a sketch, but in the end, we agree.
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
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.
