apiece
Americanadverb
adverb
Etymology
Origin of apiece
First recorded in 1425–75, apiece is from late Middle English a pease. See a 2, piece
Explanation
The adverb apiece means "for each" or "to each." If your grandmother gives you and your cousins ten dollars apiece, she hands each of you a ten dollar bill. When you sell cookies at a bake sale for a dollar apiece, every individual cookie costs one dollar. And if two competing baseball teams have eleven wins apiece, it means that they're tied for the season so far — they've each won eleven games. Apiece, first used in the 1500s, was a contraction of a pece, which was almost always used to talk about coins or items for sale.
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.
Then again, the Dow is made up of only 30 stocks, and on Thursday, three of its components were up 5% apiece: UnitedHealth Group, Goldman Sachs and Merck.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 5, 2026
The company plans to sell shares at $135 apiece, eschewing the norm of setting a price range and incorporating investor feedback.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026
When Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue took a wicket apiece, New Zealand were in tatters at 29-6.
From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026
The 20-year-old and Diego Forlan of Uruguay scored a goal apiece in the third-place play-off to tie David Villa of Spain and the Netherlands' Wesley Sneijder on five.
From BBC • Jun. 3, 2026
One place sells these little crystal figurines for, like, hundreds of dollars apiece.
From "Free Lunch" by Rex Ogle
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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.