price
noun
the sum or amount of money or its equivalent for which anything is bought, sold, or offered for sale.
price
1 American
[prahys]
/ praɪs /
noun
-
prices
plural
-
the sum or amount of money or its equivalent for which anything is bought, sold, or offered for sale.
-
a sum offered for the capture of a person alive or dead.
The authorities put a price on his head.
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the sum of money, or other consideration, for which a person's support, consent, etc., may be obtained, especially in cases involving sacrifice of integrity.
They claimed that every politician has a price.
-
that which must be given, done, or undergone in order to obtain a thing.
He gained the victory, but at a heavy price.
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odds.
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Archaic. value or worth.
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Archaic. great value or worth (usually preceded byof ).
verb (used with object)
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prices,
present (3rd person singular)
-
priced,
past participle, past
-
pricing
present participle
-
to fix the price of.
-
to ask or determine the price of.
We spent the day pricing furniture at various stores.
idioms
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at any price, at any cost, no matter how great.
Their orders were to capture the town at any price.
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beyond / without price, of incalculable value; priceless.
The crown jewels are beyond price.
Price
2
American
[prahys]
/ praɪs /
noun
-
Bruce, 1845–1903, U.S. architect.
-
(Edward) Reynolds, 1933–2011, U.S. novelist.
-
(Mary) Leontyne born 1927, U.S. soprano.
-
a male given name.
price
British
/ praɪs /
noun
-
the sum in money or goods for which anything is or may be bought or sold
-
the cost at which anything is obtained
-
the cost of bribing a person
-
a sum of money offered or given as a reward for a capture or killing
-
value or worth, esp high worth
-
gambling another word for odds
-
whatever the price or cost
-
at a high price
-
invaluable or priceless
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what someone deserves, esp a fitting punishment
it's just the price of him
-
what are the chances of something happening now?
verb
-
to fix or establish the price of
-
to ascertain or discover the price of
-
to charge so highly for as to prevent the sale, hire, etc, of
price
More Idioms
Synonym Usage
Price, charge, cost, expense refer to outlay or expenditure required in buying or maintaining something. Price is used mainly of single, concrete objects offered for sale; charge, of services: What is the price of that coat? There is a small charge for mailing packages. Cost is mainly a purely objective term, often used in financial calculations: The cost of building a new annex was estimated at $10,000. Expense suggests cost plus incidental expenditure: The expense of the journey was more than the contemplated cost. Only charge is not used figuratively. Price, cost, and sometimes expense may be used to refer to the expenditure of mental energy, what one “pays” in anxiety, suffering, etc.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pricesimple
-
pricessimple
-
have pricedperfect
-
has pricedperfect
-
am pricingprogressive
-
are pricingprogressive
-
is pricingprogressive
-
have been pricingperfect progressive
-
has been pricingperfect progressive
Past
-
pricedsimple
-
had pricedperfect
-
was pricingprogressive
-
were pricingprogressive
-
had been pricingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of price
First recorded in 1175–1225; (noun) Middle English pris(e), from Old French, Latin pretium “price, value, worth” ( cf. precious); (verb) late Middle English prisen, from Middle French prisier, derivative of pris, Old French as above; see prize 2, praise
Explanation
The price of something is how much it costs. It’s usually money, but sometimes not. For example, the price of staying up all night is that you’re really sleepy the next day. Wake up! You can use the noun price to mean the money exchanged for an item or service — or use it figuratively, to mean "something negative that's required in exchange for something positive." If you hear the phrase "a small price to pay," think of this figurative meaning. You could say, for example, that having clouds of pet hair all over your house is a small price to pay for your wonderful cat.
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:
Energy costs rose on 1 July after regulator Ofgem increased the price cap on household gas and electricity bills by 13%, which added £221 a year to the typical household's bill.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Unitree's robot dogs start at $2,700, a fraction of the roughly $70,000 price tag for Boston Dynamics' four-legged device, Spot.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Deutsche Bank rates Volvo Car at hold with a 21 kronor target price.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
This means that selling access to old chips could come with high profit margins—as long as the price companies can charge doesn’t go down too much.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
At a price of 7, Greg Lippmann allowed Morgan Stanley to exit a trade it had entered into at roughly 100 cents on the dollar.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
"It was always so nice to have Bonnie Tyler as part of the village, I would often see her shopping," said shop owner Jane Price.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The Producer Price Index was unchanged in July from June levels, suggesting that factory-gate inflation levelled off before the latest uptick in oil futures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Forget the Consumer Price Index: The cost of a burrito is the best way to judge how much the cost of living actually is.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Price increases have cooled off since the searing inflation that followed the Covid-19 pandemic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
“Yes,” said Sister Price, gently, “you just thank the Lord. You just let the tears fall. I know your heart is full this morning.”
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
Simmering tensions in the Middle East also kept oil prices elevated throughout the month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
In Europe and the United States, data centre construction has often been met with resistance from local communities citing concerns around energy prices, as well as environmental issues such as water usage and noise.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
It is a fierce rival to developers in the US as it produces robots with similar features but at lower prices.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
About 41% of sellers were lowering asking prices as of Aug. 18, according to data from Parcl HQ.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
“They were just assuming home prices would keep going up,” says Eisman.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Those still open tend to have generators, menus priced in dollars and a clientele of well-connected Cubans, decked in salmon shirts and tassel loafers.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
Kimi K3 performed on par with, or better than, some leading closed-weight models, and access to it was priced far more cheaply.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Holly: Colwill seems kindly priced in the heart of Chelsea's defence, coming in a whole £1m cheaper than summer signing Maxence Lacroix.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The cheap new car priced at $25,000 is “nearly gone,” according to Edmunds research.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
When cotton bales are weighed and priced, Mr. Thompson takes seventy percent of the profit.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Markets are rapidly pricing in tightening by the Bank of Japan at its next meeting in September, as a weak yen threatens to push up inflation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
It comes after news that regulator Ofwat planned to allow water firms to include "surge pricing" into bills from April during periods of water scarcity.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
AvaTrade trading specialist Simon Friedman said Apple’s turn to Chinese memory chips “was the one scenario that could have genuinely dented U.S. suppliers’ pricing power over the next few years.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
Swap markets were pricing in a nearly 80% chance of Bank of Japan action next month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
“We have several bays free, so there’s no waiting. Package pricing information is displayed right here.”
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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.
