- plural of sale.
sales
Americannoun
adjective
Etymology
Origin of sales
First recorded in 1820–30, for the adjective
Explanation
When a company’s sales are down, it hasn’t been making money. The word sales refers to income. If a bathing suit company’s sales are low, it should stop making wool bikinis. Sales is also the plural of “sale.” If a jewelry maker is worried about sales during the year's slow months, he might offer a discount. And when a big company focuses too much on sales, they sometimes lose track of the other aspects of doing business. Stores have big sales. The job or activity of selling things is also known as sales, so you could have a sales job, or even a title like "Director of Sales" or "sales representative."
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.
Sales of Ford's top-selling F-150 pickup truck were 197,900, a drop of 11 percent.
From Barron's • Jul. 2, 2026
"Sales have tripled over the past year," Mooring told AFP, noting that a major supermarket chain agreeing to carry the products had fueled the growth.
From Barron's • Jul. 2, 2026
Sales at the company’ own physical and online stores fell 7%.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 30, 2026
"Sales are taking much longer and it is proving increasingly difficult to generate commitment," said Jeremy Leaf, a estate agent in north London.
From BBC • Jun. 29, 2026
"See," she said, pulling Ten Bright Ideas to Light Up Your Sales from the back pocket of her shorts.
From "The Lemonade War" by Jacqueline Davies
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.
