auctioneer
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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auctioneersimple
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auctioneerssimple
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have auctioneeredperfect
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has auctioneeredperfect
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am auctioneeringprogressive
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are auctioneeringprogressive
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is auctioneeringprogressive
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have been auctioneeringperfect progressive
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has been auctioneeringperfect progressive
Past
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auctioneeredsimple
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had auctioneeredperfect
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was auctioneeringprogressive
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were auctioneeringprogressive
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had been auctioneeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of auctioneer
Explanation
An auctioneer is a person who manages an auction, or a public sale at which people can bid on items. It's exciting to win the bidding at an auction and hear the auctioneer shout, "Sold!" It's the job of an auctioneer to organize the goods for sale at an auction, as well as to oversee the bidding, often encouraging bidders to compete with each other to drive the price up. Some auctioneers call out items and prices in a distinctive, rapid, sing-song voice. Auctioneer comes from auction, which has a Latin root: auctionem, "increasing sale or public sale," from augere, "to increase."
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.
“Sleeping by the Lion Carpet” represented the final, culminating portrait of their series, which may also explain why it sold for $39 million, said auctioneer Oliver Barker.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 24, 2026
“What you’re looking for as an auctioneer is someone who’s truly fearless onstage,” says auctioneer Lydia Fenet.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 2026
Then as he droned on like a dentist drill hitting bone, he began to sound like a South Carolina auctioneer at a county fair.
From Salon • Dec. 19, 2025
The work, of Jesus Christ on the cross and painted in 1613, was unearthed by auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat in a Paris mansion last year.
From Barron's • Nov. 30, 2025
The auctioneer had the scent, though, and nothing would do but that the dwarfs give the crowd a taste of their show.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
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.
