fire sale
Americannoun
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a special sale of merchandise actually or supposedly damaged by fire.
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a sale, as of assets, at reduced prices, in order to raise money quickly.
noun
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a sale of goods at reduced prices after a fire at a shop or factory
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any instance of offering goods or assets at greatly reduced prices to ensure a quick sale
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( as modifier )
fire-sale prices
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Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fire sale
An Americanism dating back to 1890–95
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Joseph Adinolfi dug into more reasons the AI-hardware makers may be on the upswing, based on stock trading activity and the Situational Awareness hedge fund’s fire sale.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 31, 2026
Or wants to serve a term in retirement, but not at the cost of an asset fire sale?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
The thinking is that those provisions protect the fund’s remaining investors from a rush to the exits that would force managers to sell underlying securities at fire sale prices.
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
Communities across the UK are paying for spiralling levels of council borrowing with a fire sale of publicly owned facilities, a BBC study has found.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2025
Supposin', supposin' you come into the room with that hat on—it's a bum hat, by the way—and some one pipes up; 'Get that at the fire sale?'
From The Varmint by Frederic Rodrigo Gruger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
