haggle
Americanverb (used without object)
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to bargain in a petty, quibbling, and often contentious manner.
They spent hours haggling over the price of fish.
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to wrangle, dispute, or cavil.
The senators haggled interminably over the proposed bill.
verb (used with object)
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to mangle in cutting; hack.
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to settle on by haggling.
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Archaic. to harass with wrangling or haggling.
noun
verb
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to bargain or wrangle (over a price, terms of an agreement, etc); barter
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rare (tr) to hack
Other Word Forms
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.
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
In the midst of Belém’s COP30 bedlam, environmentalists, economists, lobbyists and diplomats busily haggle at the global climate conference about what we can and cannot get away with in negotiations over Mother Nature.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 19, 2025
In short: months and months of talking, as party leaders try to form a workable coalition and haggle over a government programme palatable to all sides.
From Barron's • Oct. 29, 2025
It’s amusing to watch them haggle over the details.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
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.
