exchange

[iks-cheynj]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR exchange ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), ex·changed, ex·chang·ing.

to give up (something) for something else; part with for some equivalent; change for another.

to replace (returned merchandise) with an equivalent or something else: Most stores will allow the purchaser to exchange goods.

to give and receive reciprocally; interchange: to exchange blows; to exchange gifts.

to part with in return for some equivalent; transfer for a recompense; barter: to exchange goods with foreign countries.

Chess. to capture (an enemy piece) in return for a capture by the opponent generally of pieces of equal value.

verb (used without object), ex·changed, ex·chang·ing.

to make an exchange; engage in bartering, replacing, or substituting one thing for another.

to pass or be taken in exchange or as an equivalent.

noun

the act, process, or an instance of exchanging: The contesting nations arranged for an exchange of prisoners; money in exchange for services.

something that is given or received in exchange or substitution for something else: The car was a fair exchange.

a place for buying and selling commodities, securities, etc., typically open only to members.

a central office or central station: a telephone exchange.

the method or system by which debits and credits in different places are settled without the actual transfer of money, by means of bills of exchange representing money values.

the discharge of obligations in different places by the transfer of credits.

the amount or percentage charged for exchanging money, collecting a draft, etc.

the reciprocal transfer of equivalent sums of money, as in the currencies of two different countries.

the giving or receiving of a sum of money in one place for a bill ordering the payment of an equivalent sum in another.

exchange rate.

the amount of the difference in value between two or more currencies, or between the values of the same currency at two or more places.

the checks, drafts, etc., exchanged at a clearinghouse.

Chess. a reciprocal capture of pieces of equivalent value by opponents in a single series of moves.

Origin of exchange

1250–1300; (v.) Middle English eschaungen < Anglo-French eschaungier < Vulgar Latin *excambiāre (see ex-¹, change); (noun) Middle English eschaunge < Anglo-French (Old French eschange), derivative of eschaungier; modern spelling with ex- on the model of ex-¹

Related formsex·chang·er, nounpre·ex·change, verb (used with object), pre·ex·changed, pre·ex·chang·ing.re·ex·change, verb, re·ex·changed, re·ex·chang·ing.un·ex·changed, adjective

Synonyms for exchange

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR exchange ON THESAURUS.COM

1. interchange, commute, barter, trade, swap. 8. interchange, trade, traffic, business, commerce, barter. 10. market.

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

Related Words for exchange

commerce, transaction, network, transfer, swap, change, market, shuffle, barter, interdependence, interchange, conversion, commutation, reciprocity, revision, correspondence, traffic, substitution, shift, switch

Examples from the Web for exchange

Contemporary Examples of exchange

Gift cards are sold at kiosks in shopping malls or even websites that catering to this exchange market.
The Insane $11 Billion Scam at Retailers’ Return Desks
M.L. Nestel
December 19, 2014
Gross and an unnamed American intelligence agent were freed Wednesday in exchange for three Cuban spies.
Cuba Protects America’s Most Wanted
Michael Daly
December 18, 2014
Each time he mentions a story point or repeats an exchange of dialogue, he glances up to see if she's smiling.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days
David Freeman
December 13, 2014
In exchange for the increase in sales, the dispensaries pay the service, not the consumer.
Days Are Numbered for Nestdrop, LA’s ‘Uber for Weed’
Justin Hampton
December 6, 2014
The evidence considered by the jury hinged on a 90-second exchange of words, violence, and gunshots.
The Three Biggest Unanswered Questions About Ferguson
Jacob Siegel
November 26, 2014

Historical Examples of exchange

They reached the office of Fouts, in the, latter street, just as the Exchange had closed.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
I saw you in the Exchange this morning—I saw you yesterday—and the day before.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
But I was not content with the first view that had been afforded me at the Exchange.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
And what do you propose to give him in exchange for the solace that you take away?
Earth's Holocaust (From "Mosses From An Old Manse")
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Exchange typewriters with me so I can have the same machine.
Her Father's Daughter
Gene Stratton-Porter

British Dictionary definitions for exchange

exchange

verb

(tr) to give up, part with, or transfer (one thing) for an equivalentto exchange gifts; to exchange francs for dollars

(tr) to give and receive (information, ideas, etc); interchange

(tr) to replace (one thing) with another, esp to replace unsatisfactory goods

to transfer or hand over (goods) in return for the equivalent value in kind rather than in money; barter; trade

(tr) chess to capture and surrender (pieces, usually of the same value) in a single sequence of moves

noun

the act or process of exchanging

anything given or received as an equivalent, replacement, or substitute for something else
(as modifier)an exchange student

an argument or quarrel; altercationthe two men had a bitter exchange

Also called: telephone exchange a switching centre in which telephone lines are interconnected

a place where securities or commodities are sold, bought, or traded, esp by brokers or merchantsa stock exchange; a corn exchange
(as modifier)an exchange broker

the system by which commercial debts between parties in different places are settled by commercial documents, esp bills of exchange, instead of by direct payment of money
the percentage or fee charged for accepting payment in this manner

a transfer or interchange of sums of money of equivalent value, as between different national currencies or different issues of the same currency

(often plural) the cheques, drafts, bills, etc, exchanged or settled between banks in a clearing house

chess the capture by both players of pieces of equal value, usually on consecutive moves

lose the exchange chess to lose a rook in return for a bishop or knight

win the exchange chess to win a rook in return for a bishop or knight

med another word for transfusion (def. 2)

physics a process in which a particle is transferred between two nucleons, such as the transfer of a meson between two nucleons

Derived Formsexchangeable, adjectiveexchangeability, nounexchangeably, adverb

Word Origin for exchange

C14: from Anglo-French eschaungier, from Vulgar Latin excambiāre (unattested), from Latin cambīre to barter

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

Word Origin and History for exchange

late 14c., "act of reciprocal giving and receiving," from Anglo-French eschaunge, Old French eschange (Modern French échange), from Late Latin excambium, from excambiare, from Latin ex- "out" (see ex-) + cambire "barter" (see change). Practice of merchants or lenders meeting to exchange bills of debt led to meaning "building for mercantile business" (1580s).

late 15c., from Old French eschangier "exchange, barter," from Vulgar Latin *excambiare (source of Italian scambiare); see exchange (n.). Related: Exchanged; exchanging.

exchange in Medicine

exchange

[ĭks-chānj′]

v.

To substitute one thing for another.

n.

The act of substituting one thing for another.

Idioms and Phrases with exchange

exchange

see in exchange.