haggle
Americanverb (used without object)
-
haggles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
haggled,
past participle, past
-
haggling
present participle
-
to bargain in a petty, quibbling, and often contentious manner.
They spent hours haggling over the price of fish.
-
to wrangle, dispute, or cavil.
The senators haggled interminably over the proposed bill.
verb (used with object)
-
haggles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
haggled,
past participle, past
-
haggling
present participle
-
to mangle in cutting; hack.
-
to settle on by haggling.
-
Archaic. to harass with wrangling or haggling.
noun
verb
-
to bargain or wrangle (over a price, terms of an agreement, etc); barter
-
rare (tr) to hack
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hagglesimple
-
hagglessimple
-
have haggledperfect
-
has haggledperfect
-
am hagglingprogressive
-
are hagglingprogressive
-
is hagglingprogressive
-
have been hagglingperfect progressive
-
has been hagglingperfect progressive
Past
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haggledsimple
-
had haggledperfect
-
was hagglingprogressive
-
were hagglingprogressive
-
had been hagglingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of haggle
1275–1325; Middle English haggen to cut, chop (< Old Norse hǫggva to hew ) + -le
Explanation
If you want a great deal on a used TV, then you can try to haggle with the sellers to see if they’ll bring the price down. To haggle is to negotiate or argue over something, usually a price. You can haggle at a flea market or anywhere where the price of items is flexible. But haggle doesn’t always refer to price. You can haggle over a job, a contract, or who gets to ride in the front seat. Haggling is relatively aggressive behavior, and this word is closer in meaning to wrangle than it is to negotiate. You’ll rarely hear of anyone haggling quietly. Haggle implies an argument in which both parties want the best deal for themselves.
Vocabulary lists containing haggle
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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.
See Examples For:
World powers are flying delegates to the Pacific to haggle over the fight against global warming, and to see the plight of island nations surrounded by a rising ocean.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
Garage-sale shoppers are typically not afraid to haggle, so you could try pricing items a little higher and see where negotiations lead.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026
In 2023, Orsted, Equinor and British major BP booked impairments totaling nearly $5 billion as costs spiraled, suppliers lagged and regulators refused to allow firms to haggle for higher power-purchase prices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
"I don't think we should be using the hereditary privilege we have in the Lords to haggle or negotiate for life peerages," the earl said.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
He passed that by, but a few steps on he stopped again to haggle over a pair of gloves at a leatherworker’s stall.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
In “Between Riverside and Crazy,” a Black man haggles over the concessions he’s being offered by his former employer, the New York Police Department, eight years after he was shot by a white cop.
From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2023
He haggles with a supermarket cashier, admires the paved roads, poses with a power mower to impress a cousin back home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2021
McGee notes that Washington often haggles as all sides try to cut a deal.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 1, 2020
The markets are always a necessary visit, and it helps that he speaks Cantonese and haggles for me.
From The Verge ● Dec. 15, 2017
It has learned to go to market; it chaffers, it haggles, it envies, it murmurs; it is knowing, acute, sharpened: it never prattles.”
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 377, March 1847 by Various
The states and Paramount haggled over potential sales of cable channels including CNN, a step California and Connecticut pushed for, people familiar with the situation said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
I want to hear about a time when you successfully haggled to score a great deal.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
A white-haired man in a Tommy Bahama shirt amiably haggled two dollars off his peaches.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
Paramount and Skydance have haggled for months over an ambitious merger that would usher in a new ruler of a sprawling media kingdom that includes CBS, MTV and the film studio behind “Top Gun.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2024
Baba greeted acquaintances from the old country and I haggled with buyers over a dollar or two.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
Some dealers said they see the move as a step toward moving toward a no-haggle sales model like at Tesla or Carvana, especially as more buyers balk at haggling and other traditional dealer tactics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
But first, he needs to hammer out a common stance between the parliament's different factions, which looked set to keep haggling until the last moment.
From Barron's ● May 19, 2026
They have decided to do a deal and are haggling with the trader.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
In a car-buying simulation, researchers at Indiana University and Cornell University found that participants were willing to pay an average of about $1,100 extra for a $20,000 vehicle just to avoid any haggling.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 2, 2026
As you’re walking, sound washes over you, the steady thrum of human activity, people talking in a dozen different languages, chatting, haggling, arguing.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
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.
