down payment

or down-pay·ment

noun

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

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

First recorded in 1925–30

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for downpayment

Contemporary Examples of downpayment

How small a downpayment would they like buyers to qualify with?
The Obama Administration Wants Banks to Stop Being So Uptight About their Mortgage Underwriting. How Crazy is That?
Megan McArdle
April 3, 2013

British Dictionary definitions for downpayment

down payment

noun

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

downpayment in Culture

down payment

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