purchase

American  

[pur-chuhs] / ˈpɜr tʃəs /

verb (used with object)

• purchases,
  present (3rd person singular)
• purchased,
  past participle,  past
• purchasing
  present participle

1. to acquire by the payment of money or its equivalent; buy.

   Synonyms:

   procure, obtain, get

   Antonyms:

   sell

2. to acquire by effort, sacrifice, flattery, etc.

3. to influence by a bribe.

4. to be sufficient to buy.

   Twenty dollars purchases a subscription.

5. Law. to acquire (land or other property) by means other than inheritance.

6. to move, haul, or raise, especially by applying mechanical power.

7. to get a leverage on; apply a lever, pulley, or other aid to.

8. Obsolete. to procure, acquire, or obtain.

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verb (used without object)

• purchases,
  present (3rd person singular)
• purchased,
  past participle,  past
• purchasing
  present participle

1. to buy something.

noun

• purchases
  plural

1. acquisition by the payment of money or its equivalent; buying, or a single act of buying.

2. something that is purchased or bought.

3. something purchased, with respect to value in relation to price; buy.

   At three for a dollar they seemed like a good purchase.

4. Law. the acquisition of land or other property by means other than inheritance.

5. acquisition by means of effort, labor, etc..

   the purchase of comfort at the price of freedom.

6. a lever, pulley, or other device that provides mechanical advantage or power for moving or raising a heavy object.

   Synonyms:

   capstan, winch

7. an effective hold or position for applying power in moving or raising a heavy object; leverage.

8. any means of applying or increasing power, influence, etc.

9. the annual return or rent from land.

10. a firm grip or grasp, footing, etc., on something.

11. Obsolete. booty.

purchase British  

/ ˈpɜːtʃɪs /

verb

1. to obtain (goods, etc) by payment

2. to obtain by effort, sacrifice, etc

   to purchase one's freedom

3. to draw, haul, or lift (a load) with the aid of mechanical apparatus

4. to acquire (an estate) other than by inheritance

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noun

1. something that is purchased, esp an article bought with money

2. the act of buying

3. acquisition of an estate by any lawful means other than inheritance

4. a rough measure of the mechanical advantage achieved by a lever

5. a firm foothold, grasp, etc, as for climbing or levering something

6. a means of achieving some influence, advantage, etc

Synonym Usage

See buy.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonpurchase
  noun
• nonpurchaser
  noun
• prepurchase
  noun
• prepurchaser
  noun
• purchaser
  noun
• mispurchase
  verb (used with object)
• overpurchase
  verb (used with object)
• quasi-purchased
  adjective
• unpurchased
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• purchases
  plural

Participles

• purchasing
  present
• purchased
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• purchase
  simple
• purchases
  simple
• have purchased
  perfect
• has purchased
  perfect
• am purchasing
  progressive
• are purchasing
  progressive
• is purchasing
  progressive
• have been purchasing
  perfect progressive
• has been purchasing
  perfect progressive

Past

• purchased
  simple
• had purchased
  perfect
• was purchasing
  progressive
• were purchasing
  progressive
• had been purchasing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will purchase
  simple
• will have purchased
  perfect
• will be purchasing
  progressive
• will have been purchasing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of purchase

First recorded before 1150; (for the verb) Middle English purchasen, from Anglo-French purchacer “to seek to obtain, procure,” from pur- (from Latin prō pro ¹ ) + chacer “to chase” ( see chase ¹); noun derivative of the verb

Explanation

When you purchase a pair of shoes, you buy them. If you want to gain purchase, or favor, with new friends, you might tell them about your recent purchase of chocolate, and offer to share. Purchase can refer to the act of buying or the thing you bought. In 1803, the United States paid France approximately $15,000,000 for 800,000 acres of land which was called Louisiana, in a transaction known as the Louisiana Purchase. In this transaction, the purchase nearly doubled the size of the U.S. — the territory purchased comprises about 23 percent of current U.S. land.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

purchase purchases purchased purchasing

Saunders also noted that a Dunkin’ promo this year offering a free tote bag with the purchase of a half-dozen doughnuts went over well with customers.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026

Greg Brockman, OpenAI president, wrote to OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever in late 2022 that they could purchase lots of books, “but they are expensive per token so we haven’t prioritized.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

Banks issuing cards have to support what is called “agentic tokens” that contain a user’s intent and the data for the purchase.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Ellison and longtime Skydance investor, RedBird Capital Partners, then entered into agreements to assign some of their purchase rights to the sovereign wealth funds.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

The children, it must be said, liked the parks best, and Penelope did manage to purchase a pretty straw hat with a long pink ribbon that looked quite striking against her dark hair.

From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood

Florida is giving the growers subsidies for those purchases, as part of a $330 million package over two years to revitalize the industry.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

Visa, Mastercard and American Express have each announced their own tools and standards for AI platforms, merchants and others to support AI purchases.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

On trade, there is "room for progress on tariffs, agricultural purchases and selected export controls", Yue Su of The Economist Intelligence Unit told AFP.

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

These 0% introductory rates are for purchases only.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

We pause just outside the entrance, our purchases and slushies in hand.

From "Blended" by Sharon M. Draper

The men argued that they purchased the candy specifically for the decorative designs and paid a premium for products they would not otherwise have bought.

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026

There was one thing missing when a wealthy Missouri couple purchased their oceanfront home overlooking Camden Harbor in Maine: the million-dollar view.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

The 43-year-old set up the Angel City FC women's football club in Los Angeles six years ago after leaving Reddit, and purchased a 10% stake in Women's Super League team Chelsea in 2025.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

He purchased the building on 23rd Street, according to public records, in the 1970s, taking out a $150,000 mortgage on the property at an 8 percent interest rate.

From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2026

I opened the picture book I’d purchased for the class so I could take a closer look.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

Most of the examples he cited—which also included judicial opinions drafted by clerks and CEO shareholder letters written by the communications department—didn’t involve appropriation of others’ words, only purchasing the service of producing them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

French, German and eurozone provisional purchasing managers’ surveys for September, measuring activity in the manufacturing and services sectors, will be of particular interest.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

While it can strengthen the competitiveness of Japanese exporters, "the downside -- declining purchasing power weighing on consumption and investment -- is not sufficiently understood", warned Nakao.

From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026

Trade and defence procurement: Canada has been on a "buy European" spree of late, purchasing German attack submarines, for example, and airborne early-warning planes from Sweden's Saab.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

A jelly-bellied officer with thick spectacles was purchasing a tall stack of books from the man behind the counter.

From "Chains" by Laurie Halse Anderson

Related Words

• acquire
• earn
• invest
• pick up
• procure
• redeem
• shop
• take