down payment

American  

Or down-payment

noun

1. an initial amount paid at the time of purchase, in installment buying, time sales, etc.

2. any initial or partial payment, gift, favor, or recompense, as to reduce one's indebtedness or express one's obligation or gratitude.

   This gift is just a down payment for all the favors I owe you.

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down payment British  

noun

1. the deposit paid on an item purchased on hire-purchase, mortgage, etc

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down payment Cultural  

1. A payment in part made at the time of purchase of a good, with the promise to make full payment later.

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Etymology

Origin of down payment

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

This week Quentin Fottrell — the Moneyist — answered a question from a woman who plans to give $20,000 to her son to help with a down payment for a home.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 5, 2026

Dan’s parents, by contrast, had helped him with a down payment for a home.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026

If you save about $14,000 a year instead of putting it toward a move, it would take you 11 years to make a down payment.

From MarketWatch • May 29, 2026

My wife and I borrowed money for a down payment from my father-in-law, for our first house, and he told me that it was a gift.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026

Perhaps the biggest blow to my mother came when her friend Velma Stewart announced that she and her husband had put a down payment on a house in a suburb called Park Forest.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

Related Words

• deposit