futures

British

/ ˈfjuːtʃəz /

plural noun

1. commodities or other financial products bought or sold at an agreed price for delivery at a specified future date See also financial futures
2. ( as modifier )
  
  futures contract
  futures market

"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

futures Cultural

A contract to buy or sell a specified amount of a commodity or financial instrument at an agreed price at a set date in the future. If the price for the commodity or financial instrument rises between the contract date and the future date, the investor will make money; if it declines, the investor will lose money. The term also refers to the market for such contracts.

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.

The leveraged silver ETF performed as intended on Friday: It crashed 60%, roughly doubling silver futures’ 31% loss.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 2, 2026

Even so, benchmark U.S. crude futures’ 2.4% gain Monday, to $58.08 a barrel, left them trading at one of their lowest values of the year.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 29, 2025

The gap between futures' implied yields and cash yields, which can blow out when futures are heavily shorted, has also narrowed.

From Reuters • Apr. 26, 2023

With the implied yield on the eurodollar futures' 2024 contracts lower than those in 2023, the curve has inverted, typically an ominous sign.

From Reuters • Feb. 18, 2022

The liability is the largest for any futures’ bet accepted by a sportsbook managed by Manteris since he moved to Las Vegas in 1978.

From New York Times • May 1, 2018

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023