repo

¹ American  

[ree-poh] / ˈri poʊ /

noun

repos plural

1. a repurchase agreement.

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repo ² American  

[ree-poh] / ˈri poʊ /

noun

repos plural

1. a repossessed property, especially a financed dwelling repossessed by the bank or other financing institution for delinquency of payment and offered for resale.

   We bought this trailer as a repo and have lived in it for 12 years, but now with kids we’re running out of room.

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adjective

1. engaged in or relating to the business of repossessing or taking back high-priced merchandise, such as motor vehicles or machinery, from buyers who have failed to pay.

   I’m told that a repo company can just go to an address, find the car parked, and grab it.

verb (used with object)

1. to repossess or take back (merchandise) from buyers who have failed to pay.

   When their dry cleaning business really began to struggle, the bank repoed all their equipment.

repo ³ American  

[ree-poh] / ˈri poʊ /

noun

Computers Informal.

repos plural

1. repository.

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repo British  

/ ˈriːpəʊ /

noun

1. repurchase agreement

2. 1. repossession of property

   2. ( as modifier )

      a repo car

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• repos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of repo¹

First recorded in 1960–65; rep(urchase) + -o

Origin of repo²

By shortening of repossess; see -o

Origin of repo³

First recorded in 1990–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

repo repos

At its last meeting in May, the central bank raised its key repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.00%, citing inflationary risks linked to higher oil and food prices.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

The PBOC’s main policy benchmark is currently the seven-day reverse repo rate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026

“Dealer-financed equity repo exposure has increased substantially relative to the investable equity base, while market leadership has narrowed to an unprecedented degree,” Tobias said.

From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026

Banks also have around $223 billion, the highest on record, exposed in equity repo markets, implying that risk markets are becoming “increasingly reliant on a scarce, finite resource” of Wall Street lending, Tobias argued.

From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026

They tore off my haptic suit and left it for the repo team.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Government money-market funds own Treasurys and Fed-backed repos, and they are safer when the financial system gets a fever.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 2, 2025

Meanwhile, the borrowing cost of such repos for non-bank financial institutions was about 3.5%, according to traders.

From Reuters ● Nov. 27, 2023

The central bank also injected 204 billion yuan through seven-day reverse repos while cutting borrowing costs by 10 basis points to 1.80% from 1.90% previously, it said in an online statement.

From Reuters ● Aug. 15, 2023

“But it is a matter of the use of instruments; if part of the liquidity is compensated for by short-term reverse repos, it would be a disappointment to the market.”

From Reuters ● Jan. 13, 2023

Pour me garantir du naufrage, For fear of being cast away, Je n’ose quitter le rivage; I dare not quit the Sight of Shore; La crainte assûre mon repos.

From The Memoirs of Charles-Lewis, Baron de Pollnitz, Volume II Being the Observations He Made in His Late Travels From Prussia thro' Germany, Italy, France, Flanders, Holland, England, &C. in Letters to His Friend. Discovering Not Only the Present State of the Chief Cities and Towns; but the Characters of the Principal Persons at the Several Courts. by P?llnitz, Karl Ludwig von