barter
Americanverb (used without object)
-
barters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bartered,
past participle, past
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bartering
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
barters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bartered,
past participle, past
-
bartering
present participle
-
to exchange in trade, as one commodity for another; trade.
- Synonyms:
- traffic
-
to bargain away unwisely or dishonorably (usually followed byaway ).
bartering away his pride for material gain.
noun
-
the act or practice of bartering.
-
items or an item for bartering.
We arrived with new barter for the villagers.
verb
-
to trade (goods, services, etc) in exchange for other goods, services, etc, rather than for money
the refugees bartered for food
-
(intr) to haggle over the terms of such an exchange; bargain
noun
Synonym Usage
See trade.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
bartersimple
-
barterssimple
-
have barteredperfect
-
has barteredperfect
-
am barteringprogressive
-
are barteringprogressive
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is barteringprogressive
-
have been barteringperfect progressive
-
has been barteringperfect progressive
Past
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barteredsimple
-
had barteredperfect
-
was barteringprogressive
-
were barteringprogressive
-
had been barteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of barter
1400–50; late Middle English, apparently < Anglo-French, Old French bareter, barater ( see barrator), with shift of sense
Explanation
If you make a deal with your brother to change the oil in his car in exchange for one of his video games, what you’ve just done is barter — or trade goods and services. Before money was invented, people traded goods and services in order to acquire the things they needed. An individual might trade, for example, a cow in exchange for help building a shed, or a dozen eggs in exchange for several yards of cloth. To this day people continue to barter for goods and services although this method of commerce is no longer widespread. The verb barter has survived into modern times to refer to making a transaction that involves the exchange of goods or services rather than money.
Vocabulary lists containing barter
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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:
The nations have also experimented with direct barter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
Plus, it creates new headaches for companies, many of which would likely jockey for workarounds as the administration has shown a willingness to barter tariffs for other commitments, he adds.
From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026
Try to get a car at an auto rental agency without booking it online first; you might as well attempt to barter your watch and three chickens as payment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2026
These findings suggest that the pre-Inca Chincha Kingdom may have built Monte Sierpe for organized barter and trading, and that the Inca later repurposed it for accounting and tribute collection.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 10, 2025
“Money’s supposed to make things easier, but it’s always doing the opposite. I sort of wish we worked on a barter system.”
From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy
Iran then buys goods and services from China or it barters the oil in return for Chinese companies to build infrastructure inside Iran.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Luis said he then buys dollar-denominated stablecoins on overseas crypto markets, which he barters for pesos on peer-to-peer exchanges in Argentina -- all under the radar of Argentine tax and financial authorities.
From Reuters ● Jul. 25, 2023
As the creators and showrunners of HBO’s “Westworld,” based on the original film and screenplay by Michael Crichton, they were no strangers to sci-fi that barters in slippery notions of reality.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2022
“Three Thousand Years of Longing” is a cerebral film that barters in riddles.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 23, 2022
Life in the Fen was apparently a series of barters.
From "Gathering Blue" by Lois Lowry
Cicely Muldoon, a former superintendent of Yosemite, said the swap would set a dangerous precedent by signaling that protected natural spaces can be bartered away to private interests.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Allen bartered the show for free to TV stations in exchange for a split of the revenues from selling commercials to advertisers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
In a time where edgy influencers like Clavicular and HSTikkyTokky are reposted, shared, and platformed for their ability to provoke, morality is bartered for popularity.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
Scholars suggest that some of these human remains were bartered items or gifts, but others may have been taken away without the consent of their owners.
From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2024
But alas, I would have bartered my high estate to be plain Jill to Hamlet’s Jack.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
In his plea, Max acknowledged bartering art for real estate and hiding income to buy real estate in Southampton, New York, the US Virgin Islands and upstate New York.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
Some vendors at the Central Avenue Farmers Market are open to bartering or trading with customers experiencing food scarcity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
When challenged whether he was coercively controlling couriers for his own ends, he said: "No, it's more of a bartering system. They want something and I want something. It goes hand in hand."
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
There’s also a bartering and swap group where folks negotiate clever exchanges: “I have an unused air fryer. You have an unused desk chair. Want to swap?”
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2025
Everything was gone, used over months of bartering for cans of beans and bags of rice.
From "The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer
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