lease

¹ American  

[lees] / lis /

noun

1. a contract renting land, buildings, etc., to another; a contract or instrument conveying property to another for a specified period or for a period determinable at the will of either lessor or lessee in consideration of rent or other compensation.

2. the property leased.

3. the period of time for which a lease is made.

   a five-year lease.

---

verb (used with object)

• leases,
  present (3rd person singular)
• leased,
  past participle,  past
• leasing
  present participle

1. to grant the temporary possession or use of (lands, tenements, etc.) to another, usually for compensation at a fixed rate; let.

   She plans to lease her apartment to a friend.

2. to take or hold by lease.

   He leased the farm from the sheriff.

   Synonyms:

   hire, charter, rent

verb (used without object)

• leases,
  present (3rd person singular)
• leased,
  past participle,  past
• leasing
  present participle

1. to grant a lease; let or rent.

   to lease at a lower rental.

idioms

1. a new lease on life, a chance to improve one's situation or to live longer or more happily.

   Plastic surgery gave him a new lease on life.

lease ² American  

[lees] / lis /

noun

Textiles.

1. a system for keeping the warp in position and under control by alternately crossing the warp yarn over and under the lease rods.

2. the order of drawing in the warp ends.

---

lease ¹ British  

/ liːs /

noun

1. a contract by which property is conveyed to a person for a specified period, usually for rent

2. the instrument by which such property is conveyed

3. the period of time for which it is conveyed

4. a prospect of renewed health, happiness, etc

   a new lease of life

---

verb

1. to grant possession of (land, buildings, etc) by lease

2. to take a lease of (property); hold under a lease

lease ² British  

/ liːz /

noun

1. dialect open pasture or common

---

lease Cultural  

1. A contract that grants possession of property for a specified period of time in return for some kind of compensation.

---

lease More Idioms  

1. see new lease on life.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• leaser
  noun
• leasable
  adjective
• leaseless
  adjective
• unleasable
  adjective
• unleased
  adjective
• well-leased
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• leasing
  present
• leased
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• lease
  simple
• leases
  simple
• have leased
  perfect
• has leased
  perfect
• am leasing
  progressive
• are leasing
  progressive
• is leasing
  progressive
• have been leasing
  perfect progressive
• has been leasing
  perfect progressive

Past

• leased
  simple
• had leased
  perfect
• was leasing
  progressive
• were leasing
  progressive
• had been leasing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will lease
  simple
• will have leased
  perfect
• will be leasing
  progressive
• will have been leasing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of lease¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English les, from Anglo-French les, Old French lais, leis, noun derivative of lesser “to lease,” literally, “let go,” ultimately from Latin laxāre to release; see also lax

Origin of lease²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English lese “length or coil of thread,” variant of lesh leash

Explanation

To lease something is to borrow it in exchange for money. If you lease a car from a dealer, for example, you make payments and you get to drive the car, but at the end of the contract you have to give it back. As a noun, a lease is both the thing you are contracting to rent (the car itself is a lease) and the contract spelling out the terms of use — in other words, a rental agreement. Be sure to check the fine print on your apartment lease to avoid any unpleasant surprises when you move out — like owing money for painting over that hideous wallpaper in the living room.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lease leases leased leasing

It said its aggregate initial lease commitment is about $12.3 billion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

"OpenAI will pay the lease," Nvidia wrote in a blog post on Monday, and continued that the deal was made with "the same discipline we apply to supply-chain management."

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

Its lease payments will provide the cash flows to help make the payments to bondholders.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

A separate child-care program that is not run by UCLA, called University Parents Nursery School, will also close after the university ends its lease in 2027.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

She and my dad ended up signing a one-year lease for two warehouse bays that made up a total of 9,000 square feet.

From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles

The state intends to sublet space to startups that might not have the wherewithal to commit to long-term leases.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

Note: Data are for calendar years and include finance leases.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

One big reason Arya isn’t sweating Nvidia’s decision to guarantee OpenAI’s leases lies in the details of the SEC filing.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026

German energy giant RWE said it will abandon wind leases off the coast of New York, Louisiana and Northern California near Humboldt, further challenging the Golden State’s clean energy ambitions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

In short order, the Salomon Brothers trading floor gave birth to small markets in bonds funded by all sorts of strange stuff: credit card receivables, aircraft leases, auto loans, health club dues.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

The $200-million shopping center, which first opened in 2018, is 99% leased, with one-third of the shops are new, including an Italian steakhouse called Spacca Tutto by chef Nancy Silverton and women’s apparel retailer LESET.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026

MobileX has leased and resold excess capacity from Verizon’s network for years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

I also leased an Ioniq 5 for $343 a month because I couldn’t decide which gas car to buy, and I got hooked.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

And a court heard when Sodexo took over, and when staff in the safer custody team arrived, they found some computers in their office had been taken, as they were leased by Serco.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

We got backhoes and dozers already leased, and now they gotta sit.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

“In the worst-case scenario they destroy capital,” he said, while in the best case, the neoclouds will be “cyclical leasing companies.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026

Anthropic is now leasing the entire facility for more than $1 billion a month.

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

Industrial real-estate leasing activity, in square feet, in the first half of 2026, up 27.1% year-over-year, according to Savills.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

It would diversify the group’s investment portfolio, and a reliable tenant was committed to leasing the building once it was finished, Peck said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

Money would come in—and with it, food—on the rare occasion that Dad landed an odd job or Mom received a check from the oil company leasing the drilling rights on her land in Texas.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

Related Words

• charter
• hire
• rent out
• sublet