lease

¹ American  

[lees] / lis /

noun

1. a contract renting land, buildings, etc., to another; a contract or instrument conveying property to another for a specified period or for a period determinable at the will of either lessor or lessee in consideration of rent or other compensation.

2. the property leased.

3. the period of time for which a lease is made.

   a five-year lease.

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verb (used with object)

leases, present (3rd person singular) leased, past participle, past leasing present participle

1. to grant the temporary possession or use of (lands, tenements, etc.) to another, usually for compensation at a fixed rate; let.

   She plans to lease her apartment to a friend.

2. to take or hold by lease.

   He leased the farm from the sheriff.

   Synonyms:

   hire, charter, rent

verb (used without object)

leases, present (3rd person singular) leased, past participle, past leasing present participle

1. to grant a lease; let or rent.

   to lease at a lower rental.

idioms

1. a new lease on life, a chance to improve one's situation or to live longer or more happily.

   Plastic surgery gave him a new lease on life.

lease ² American  

[lees] / lis /

noun

Textiles.

1. a system for keeping the warp in position and under control by alternately crossing the warp yarn over and under the lease rods.

2. the order of drawing in the warp ends.

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lease ¹ British  

/ liːs /

noun

1. a contract by which property is conveyed to a person for a specified period, usually for rent

2. the instrument by which such property is conveyed

3. the period of time for which it is conveyed

4. a prospect of renewed health, happiness, etc

   a new lease of life

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verb

1. to grant possession of (land, buildings, etc) by lease

2. to take a lease of (property); hold under a lease

lease ² British  

/ liːz /

noun

1. dialect open pasture or common

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lease Cultural  

1. A contract that grants possession of property for a specified period of time in return for some kind of compensation.

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lease More Idioms  

1. see new lease on life.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• leaser
  noun
• leasable
  adjective
• leaseless
  adjective
• unleasable
  adjective
• unleased
  adjective
• well-leased
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• leasing
  present
• leased
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• lease
  simple
• leases
  simple
• have leased
  perfect
• has leased
  perfect
• am leasing
  progressive
• are leasing
  progressive
• is leasing
  progressive
• have been leasing
  perfect progressive
• has been leasing
  perfect progressive

Past

• leased
  simple
• had leased
  perfect
• was leasing
  progressive
• were leasing
  progressive
• had been leasing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will lease
  simple
• will have leased
  perfect
• will be leasing
  progressive
• will have been leasing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of lease¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English les, from Anglo-French les, Old French lais, leis, noun derivative of lesser “to lease,” literally, “let go,” ultimately from Latin laxāre to release; see also lax

Origin of lease²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English lese “length or coil of thread,” variant of lesh leash

Explanation

To lease something is to borrow it in exchange for money. If you lease a car from a dealer, for example, you make payments and you get to drive the car, but at the end of the contract you have to give it back. As a noun, a lease is both the thing you are contracting to rent (the car itself is a lease) and the contract spelling out the terms of use — in other words, a rental agreement. Be sure to check the fine print on your apartment lease to avoid any unpleasant surprises when you move out — like owing money for painting over that hideous wallpaper in the living room.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lease leases leased leasing

Every lease I’ve ever signed felt like a shakedown.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026

Cracker Barrel said it was also on track to meet or exceed its full-year outlook, and said it sold 26 of its company-owned locations and would lease them back.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

Benn was discussing the festival's 20-year history on stage with Prof George McKay of the University of East Anglia when he revealed he had signed the 25-year lease.

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

Founder and organiser Melvin Benn told festival-goers on Sunday he had signed a new 25-year lease to keep it based at Henham Park near Southwold, Suffolk.

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

We signed the lease, then got friends and family to help us pack up and move into a two-bedroom apartment, two buildings down on the same block as the burned-out building.

From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez

The Dana Point Marina Inn was set to be demolished and replaced by two new hotels on the harbor, though the vote to approve the leases has been postponed to next month.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

Lineage, which leases the space, has said repeatedly that it does not own, operate or maintain the solar panels.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

Critics argue that prime government land in the middle of India’s most expensive cities should not be occupied by exclusive clubs that enjoy heavily subsidized leases.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

"It was roughly 40 times the amount of annual rent. But it was only leases where the rent was less than £100 a year."

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

The act granted public housing agencies the authority to use leases to evict any tenant, household member, or guest engaged in any criminal activity on or near public housing premises.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

Initially, the family leased their ranch abode—telling People magazine shortly after they moved to Texas that they had wanted to test out the area for a year before committing to buying a property there.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026

In the Middle Ages, William the Conqueror took control of England's land and granted parts of it to loyal nobles, who leased it to others for a fixed term.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

Offices there are more than 90% leased at rents that are the highest in the city, he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026

According to Pitchbook analyst Franco Granda, SpaceX has leased out some 73% of the existing capacity at its Colossus I and Colossus II data-center complexes and half of planned capacity to Google and Anthropic.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 27, 2026

We got backhoes and dozers already leased, and now they gotta sit.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

SpaceX earlier this year acquired Musk's AI start-up xAI, recently renamed SpaceXAI, external and best known for the controversial chatbot Grok, and also started leasing data centre capacity to other tech companies.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

According to the Financial Times, Castlelake is a major player in aircraft leasing, with a fleet of 375 planes rented out to airlines including Etihad, Qantas, Air India Express, Frontier and Viva.

From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026

Meta is reportedly also considering getting into the cloud-computing business and leasing out some of the computing power it’s spent hundreds of billions of dollars amassing in the past few years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

Castlelake’s experience in aircraft leasing and airline investments, together with easyJet’s valuable landing slots at major airports such as London Gatwick, makes the acquisition strategically attractive, the analyst says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

She waited until she received a check for several hundred dollars from the company that was leasing the drilling rights.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

Related Words

• charter
• hire
• rent out
• sublet