mark-up
noun
a percentage or amount added to the cost of a commodity to provide the seller with a profit and to cover overheads, costs, etc
mark-up
Britishnoun
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a percentage or amount added to the cost of a commodity to provide the seller with a profit and to cover overheads, costs, etc
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an increase in the price of a commodity
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the amount of this increase
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verb
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to add a percentage for profit, overheads, etc, to the cost of (a commodity)
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to increase the price of
mark up
Idioms
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Deface by drawing, cutting, or another means of covering something with marks. For example, John was punished for marking up his desk , or These shoes really mark up the floor .
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Raise the price of something, as in This small shop marks up its merchandise much more than department stores do . [Second half of 1800s]
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:
A roll of 25 $1 coins was available for sale for $61 -- a mark-up of 144 percent -- with a 100-coin bag available for $154.50.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
He says the mark-up is split between the club and brand, with the latter taking about 70%.
From BBC ● Nov. 27, 2025
Resale platforms and ticket touts often list tickets at a huge mark-up on their face value price, sparking outrage from the music industry and fans alike.
From Barron's ● Nov. 19, 2025
The price to climb Mount Everest will soon increase for the first time in nearly a decade, as Nepal announces a sharp mark-up in permit fees.
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2025
He had his five-frog margin and also he had the grocery mark-up.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
I’m having trouble selling it on StubHub because I waited a while to list it and had to mark up the cost in order to have a chance of making back what I paid.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 3, 2026
Amazon and other online marketplaces created a boom for drop-shippers to mark up products without providing any further value to customers.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026
GPU/XPU suppliers could further mark up HBM prices to protect their margins as well, they say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
Though there has been discourse over the years around whether this can actually damage the sleeve, many sellers champion an “in the shrink” label as they mark up prices.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
They can mark up the price of their property to meet changing standards.
From American Eloquence, Volume 4 Studies In American Political History (1897) by Alexander Johnston
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.
