price war

American  

noun

1. intensive competition, especially among retailers, in which prices are repeatedly cut in order to undersell competitors or sometimes to force smaller competitors out of business.

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price war British  

noun

1. a period of intense competition among enterprises, esp retail enterprises, in the same market, characterized by repeated price reductions rather than advertising, brand promotion, etc

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Etymology

Origin of price war

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

Blume told a press conference that Chinese carmakers eyeing up the European market to export their way out of a fierce price war at home would raise the pressure on Volkswagen.

From Barron's

There will be no mortgage price war while all this is going on.

From BBC

But Hunt said he wouldn’t be drawn into a price war.

From The Wall Street Journal

An e-commerce price war with rivals weighed on margins, causing JD.com’s shares to fall in premarket trading.

From Barron's

The reductions escalate a price war with rival Eli Lilly in one of the fastest-growing, most hotly contested categories in pharmaceuticals.

From The Wall Street Journal