down payment

or down-payment

See synonyms for down payment on Thesaurus.com
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.

Origin of down payment

1
First recorded in 1925–30

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use down payment in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for down payment

down payment

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for down payment

down payment

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

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.