tax

[ taks ]

/ tæks /

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See synonyms for: tax / taxed / taxes / taxing on Thesaurus.com

noun

a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services, levied upon incomes, property, sales, etc.

a burdensome charge, obligation, duty, or demand.

verb (used with object)

(of a government)

to demand a tax from (a person, business, etc.).
to demand a tax in consideration of the possession or occurrence of (income, goods, sales, etc.), usually in proportion to the value of money involved.

to lay a burden on; make serious demands on: to tax one's resources.

to take to task; censure; reprove; accuse: to tax one with laziness.

Informal. to charge: What did he tax you for that?

Archaic. to estimate or determine the amount or value of.

verb (used without object)

to levy taxes.

OTHER WORDS FOR tax

1 duty, impost, levy.

4 strain, tire, stretch.

See synonyms for tax on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of tax

1250–1300; (v.) Middle English taxen<Medieval Latin taxāre to tax, appraise, Latin: to appraise, handle, frequentative of tangere to touch; (noun) Middle English, derivative of the v.

OTHER WORDS FROM tax

taxer, nountax·ing·ly, adverbtaxless, adjectivetax·less·ly, adverb

tax·less·ness, nounan·ti·tax, adjectivenon·tax, noun, adjectivenon·tax·er, nounpro·tax, adjectivere·tax, verb (used with object)self-taxed, adjectivesub·tax·er, nounun·der·taxed, adjectiveun·tax, verb (used with object)well-taxed, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH tax

tacks, tax

Other definitions for tax (2 of 2)

tax-

variant of taxo- before a vowel: taxeme.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use tax in a sentence

The new tax law granted a 20% deduction to most, but not all, of these businesses.
Georgia Senator David Perdue Privately Pushed for a Tax Break for Rich Sports Teamowners|by Robert Faturechi and Justin Elliott|November 20, 2020|ProPublica
The company that makes the first point of sale within New York pays the tax.
Patients struggle to access prescription opioids after New York tax drives away suppliers|lbelanger225|November 15, 2020|Fortune
The General Assembly passed the tax this spring to raise $250 million a year for education.
Maryland businesses launch campaign against pioneering digital ad tax|Erin Cox|November 10, 2020|Washington Post
The new tax adjustment provides relief to teams that had invested in major long-term salary commitments before the pandemic.
NBA sets salary cap, free agency start date for 2020-21 season|Ben Golliver|November 10, 2020|Washington Post

The charity moves also might have been strategic, too, some tax experts said.
A dodgy deal helped make him a billionaire. It worked, until now.|Peter Whoriskey, Yeganeh Torbati, Keith L. Alexander|November 9, 2020|Washington Post

British Dictionary definitions for tax

tax

/ (tæks) /

noun

a compulsory financial contribution imposed by a government to raise revenue, levied on the income or property of persons or organizations, on the production costs or sales prices of goods and services, etc

a heavy demand on something; straina tax on our resources

verb (tr)

to levy a tax on (persons, companies, etc, or their incomes, etc)

to make heavy demands on; strainto tax one's intellect

to accuse, charge, or blamehe was taxed with the crime

to determine (the amount legally chargeable or allowable to a party to a legal action), as by examining the solicitor's bill of coststo tax costs

slang to steal

Derived forms of tax

taxer, nountaxless, adjective

Word Origin for tax

C13: from Old French taxer, from Latin taxāre to appraise, from tangere to touch

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with tax

tax

In addition to the idiom beginning with tax

tax with

also see:

death and taxes