sale
noun
the act of selling.
sale
American
[seyl]
/ seɪl /
noun
-
sales
plural
idioms
-
on sale, able to be bought at reduced prices.
-
for sale, offered to be sold; made available to purchasers.
sale
1
British
/ seɪl /
noun
-
the exchange of goods, property, or services for an agreed sum of money or credit
-
the amount sold
-
the opportunity to sell; market
there was no sale for luxuries
-
the rate of selling or being sold
a slow sale of synthetic fabrics
-
-
an event at which goods are sold at reduced prices, usually to clear old stocks
-
( as modifier )
sale bargains
-
-
an auction
Sale
2
British
/ seɪl /
noun
-
a town in NW England, in Trafford unitary authority, Greater Manchester: a residential suburb of Manchester. Pop: 55 234 (2001)
-
a city in SE Australia, in SE Victoria: centre of an agricultural region. Pop: 12 854 (2001)
Salé
3
British
/ sale /
noun
sale
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sale
First recorded before 1050; Middle English; late Old English sala; cognate with Old Norse, Old High German sala; cf. sell 1
Explanation
A sale is what occurs whenever an object or service is given in return for a payment of money. The sale of your old bike will happen more quickly if you price it at $50 instead of $500. You can talk about the sale of your next door neighbor's house, and you can also describe the house as "for sale," or available to be purchased. When a store has a sale, it means goods temporarily cost less than usual — you can also say that things at that store are "on sale." The word sale comes from the Old English sala, from a Germanic root.
Vocabulary lists containing sale
Century 21 Accounting, 9e, Chapters 1-3
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Spelling Practice, Unit 8
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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:
The number of COEs for sale varies between auctions, which are held twice a month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Prosecutors also allege that slogans including "Free Gaza", "Free Palestine" and "Gaza is not for sale" were daubed on the course and buildings, along with offensive messages directed at Trump.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
The intractable source of the problem, Bostwick said, is that the desert is for sale and real estate operations, some out-of-state, buy and then resell online.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
"Retail usually historically costs 20 to 30 percent of total margin on the sale of a single disc," Dreunen said, as stores take a cut of any sale.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
I picture officers in navy jackets throwing my makeup collection into a trash bag or selling my clothes at a garage sale.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
But Sale remained and had an even bigger final moment of the game: one more strikeout.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Infantino, a 56-year-old Swiss lawyer -- who is holding the meeting in FIFA's Africa regional office in Sale close to Rabat -- was in Morocco to celebrate last week's Feast of the Enthronement.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
Appeared in the July 31, 2026, print edition as 'Tesla Considers Sale of China Unit'.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Elsewhere across the opening weekend, Harlequins are at home to Bath on Friday, Sale host Bristol on Saturday evening and Leicester play Saracens in the only match on Sunday.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
A few have For Sale signs in the front, while others are completely renovated.
From "Pride" by Ibi Zoboi
When she left the Kenyan team to take over AS Salé in February, she became the first female head coach of a men’s club team in the Arab world.
From Seattle Times ● May 26, 2022
Moskvina’s pair of Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won narrowly over the Canadians Jamie Salé and David Pelletier in a disputed outcome.
From New York Times ● Feb. 18, 2022
Ms. Cherkaoui, a stylish woman of 41 with dark, short-cropped hair, grew up in Salé, near the capital of Rabat.
From New York Times ● Oct. 8, 2018
The museum’s 17th-century home, the Hôtel Salé, in the historic Marais district, with its garden, courtyard and two-story, sculpture-encrusted entrance hall, has never been ideal for showing art.
From New York Times ● Oct. 27, 2014
The Merinid Sultans of Rabat had a terribly troublesome neighbour across the Bou-Regreg, and they built Chella to keep an eye on the pirates of Salé.
From In Morocco by Edith Wharton
Consumption remains concentrated in passenger vehicle sales rather than extending broadly to everyday goods.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Will a Premier League club break record for transfer sales in one window?
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Gap shares jumped 15% on Friday after the namesake brand reported a 10% increase in same-store sales for the most recent quarter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Same-store sales have grown for 11 consecutive quarters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Meanwhile, Jake scanned the next customer’s items and did the math in his head, remembering to add sales tax to all non-food items.
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
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.
