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• deal
  deal

  noun

  a business transaction.
• Deal
  Deal

  noun

  a town in SE England, in Kent, on the English Channel: two 16th-century castles: tourism, light industries. Pop: 96 670 (2003 est)

deal

¹ American  

[deel] / dil /

noun

1. a business transaction.

   They closed the deal after a week of negotiating.

2. a bargain or arrangement for mutual advantage.

   the best deal in town.

   Synonyms:

   contract, pact

3. a secret or underhanded agreement or bargain.

   His supporters worked a number of deals to help his campaign.

4. Informal. treatment received in an interaction or arrangement with another.

   He got a raw deal.

5. an indefinite but large quantity, amount, extent, or degree (usually preceded by good orgreat ).

   a good deal of work;

   a great deal of money.

6. Cards.

   1. the distribution of cards to the players in a game.

   2. the set of cards in one's hand.

   3. the turn of a player to distribute the cards to the players.

   4. the period of time during which a hand, or set of cards, is played.

7. an act of handing out or distributing.

8. (initial capital letter) an economic and social policy pursued by a political administration.

   the Fair Deal;

   the New Deal;

   the Green New Deal.

9. Obsolete. portion; share.

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verb (used without object)

• deals,
  present (3rd person singular)
• dealt,
  past participle,  past
• dealing
  present participle

1. to occupy oneself or itself (usually followed by with orin ).

   Botany deals with the study of plants.

   He deals in generalities.

2. to take action with respect to a thing or person (followed bywith ).

   Law courts must deal with lawbreakers.

3. to conduct oneself toward persons.

   He deals fairly.

   Synonyms:

   behave, act

4. to be able to handle competently or successfully; cope (followed bywith ).

   I can't deal with your personal problems.

5. to trade or do business (followed by with orin ).

   to deal with a firm;

   to deal in used cars.

   Synonyms:

   traffic

6. to distribute, especially the cards in a game (often followed byout ): It's your turn to deal.

   She dealt out five hands of six cards each.

   It's your turn to deal.

7. Slang. to buy and sell drugs illegally.

8. Archaic. to have dealings or commerce, often in a secret or underhanded manner (often followed bywith ).

   to deal with the Devil.

verb (used with object)

• deals,
  present (3rd person singular)
• dealt,
  past participle,  past
• dealing
  present participle

1. to give to one as a share; apportion.

   Deal me in.

2. to distribute among a number of recipients, as the cards required in a game.

   Deal five cards to each player.

   Synonyms:

   dispense, mete, dole, assign, allot

3. Cards. to give a player (a specific card) in dealing.

   You dealt yourself four aces.

4. to deliver (an action or a judgment) on or upon someone; administer: Did you see the cat dealing a blow to a dog five times its size?

   As a repeat offender, she can expect to be dealt a harsh sentence.

   Did you see the cat dealing a blow to a dog five times its size?

5. Slang. to buy and sell (drugs) illegally.

6. Slang. to trade (an athlete) to another team.

verb phrase

1. deal off

   1. Poker. to deal the final hand of a game.

   2. Slang. to get rid of or trade (something or someone) in a transaction.

idioms

1. deal someone in, to include.

   He was making a lot of dough in the construction business so I got him to deal me in.

2. seal the deal. see seal the deal.

3. cut a deal, to make an agreement, especially a business agreement.

   Networks have cut a deal with foreign stations for an international hookup.

deal ² American  

[deel] / dil /

noun

1. a board or plank, especially of fir or pine, cut to any of various standard sizes.

2. such boards collectively.

3. fir or pine wood.

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adjective

1. made of deal.

deal ¹ British  

/ diːl /

verb

1. to engage (in) commercially

   to deal in upholstery

2. (often foll by out) to apportion (something, such as cards) to a number of people; distribute

3. (tr) to give (a blow) to (someone); inflict

4. slang (intr) to sell any illegal drug

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noun

1. informal a bargain, transaction, or agreement

2. a particular type of treatment received, esp as the result of an agreement

   a fair deal

3. an indefinite amount, extent, or degree (esp in the phrases good or great deal )

4. cards

   1. the process of distributing the cards

   2. a player's turn to do this

   3. a single round in a card game

5. See big deal

6. informal to come to an arrangement; make a deal See also deal with

7. informal a person or thing seen as being authentic and not inferior in any way

deal ² British  

/ diːl /

noun

1. a plank of softwood timber, such as fir or pine, or such planks collectively

2. the sawn wood of various coniferous trees, such as that from the Scots pine ( red deal ) or from the Norway Spruce ( white deal )

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adjective

1. of fir or pine

Deal ³ British  

/ diːl /

noun

1. a town in SE England, in Kent, on the English Channel: two 16th-century castles: tourism, light industries. Pop: 96 670 (2003 est)

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deal More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing deal

• big deal
• close the sale (deal)
• cut a deal
• done deal
• good deal
• make a federal case (big deal)
• no deal
• raw deal
• square deal
• sweeten the kitty (deal)
• wheel and deal

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• dealing
  present
• dealt
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• deal
  simple
• deals
  simple
• have dealt
  perfect
• has dealt
  perfect
• am dealing
  progressive
• are dealing
  progressive
• is dealing
  progressive
• have been dealing
  perfect progressive
• has been dealing
  perfect progressive

Past

• dealt
  simple
• had dealt
  perfect
• was dealing
  progressive
• were dealing
  progressive
• had been dealing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will deal
  simple
• will have dealt
  perfect
• will be dealing
  progressive
• will have been dealing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of deal¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English verb delen, dalen, dealen “to separate, divide, share, have dealings,” Old English dǣlan (cognate with German teilen “to divide, share”), derivative of dǣl “part, portion” (cognate with German Teil ); Middle English noun del, dæl, deal, Old English dǣl; in part derivative of the verb

Origin of deal²

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English dele, dile, from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch dele; see thill

Explanation

"Let's make a deal," a friend might say to you. That means he wants to make an agreement on something. If you pay for the gas, for example, he'll pay for the food. What a deal! Ready to deal with all the meanings of the word deal?! You can deal a deck of cards. You can make a business deal. You can strike a deal. You can try to deal with an unfortunate situation. You can score a deal in the bargain basement. Deal comes from the Old English dǣlan, meaning "divide" and "participate."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

deal Deal deals dealt dealing

Wang ended up joining Meta in an unusual deal in June 2025.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

Paramount now has won approvals by nearly 70 regulators for the industry-reshaping deal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

There are also some ancillary fees which reached clubs whom Manchester City did not deal with directly.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

In today’s housing market, traffic is so slow that he’s had to sweeten the deal by offering a hundred bucks to agents to hold an open house, he told MarketWatch.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026

I scowled, which wasn’t a big deal since everyone in the room was wearing a similar disgruntled expression, although I was pretty sure it wasn’t because their simulation test hijack wasn’t going as they’d planned.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

The off-market deal closed in July but was only recently made public, as first reported by The Real Deal.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026

According to The Real Deal, the buyer is a limited liability company tied to John Jarve, a partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures and founder of Sierra Point Capital.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026

Appeared in the September 21, 2026, print edition as 'In the End, a Good Greenland Deal'.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

Dover and Deal MP Mike Tapp told the BBC the incident was causing "absolutely awful disruption" for residents.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

It’s too hard to see what you have to Deal With if things start blurring together and getting mushy and turning into each other.

From "Mockingbird" by Kathryn Erskine

Promoters scraped out regional fiefdoms where transient performers would fight for a spell before jumping ship in search of better deals.

From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026

It was acknowledged that writing eventualities into new registrations is very difficult, though City players do have release clauses in their deals should the club enter into administration.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

The agreement with Abogen is the latest in a series of deals Novartis has reached in China lately.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

The food-delivery app has struck deals to carry products from Macy’s, Anthropologie, The North Face, Vans and Timberland, Sarah Nassauer writes for the Journal:

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

“I figured Lippmann was going to send me deals that had twenty percent no docs. He sent us a list and none of them had less than fifty percent.”

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Now, the blockade has dealt this trade a blow.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

I was carrying grief and an old wound from a different part of my life that I had never dealt with.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026

The Washington Commanders' hopes of getting back in the play-offs were dealt a huge blow last week as quarterback Jayden Daniels dislocated his left elbow.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

The flooding dealt a major blow to Nepal's hydropower generation system, which is central to the country's development ambitions and export earnings.

From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026

"A few demons got in, but they've been dealt with."

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

The second is unique to him: dealing with the increasingly uncertain fate of the embattled John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the orchestra’s home since 1971.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

It’s stressful dealing with members of the public at the best of times.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026

Malawi's anti-corruption agency said it arrested the previous army chief on Thursday on allegations including dealing in property linked to "terrorism".

From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026

But the latest homeless count showed the numbers are growing once again, dealing a setback to Bass.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

“Except you’re not dealing with it, are you.”

From "Maybe He Just Likes You" by Barbara Dee

Related Words

• accord
• arrangement
• compromise
• contract
• pact
• pledge
• transaction