sell short
Idioms-
Contract for the sale of securities or commodities one expects to own at a later date and at a lower price, as in Selling short runs the risk of a market rise, forcing one to pay more than one expected . [Mid-1800s]
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sell someone short . Underestimate the true value or worth of someone, as in Don't sell her short; she's a very able lawyer . [First half of 1900s]
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.
To duplicate that return yourself, you would need to buy the highest-momentum stocks and simultaneously sell short an equal dollar amount of the biggest losers.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 22, 2026
That could help lift the stock, which may now be being held back as arbitrageurs buy Lennar and sell short Millrose to capture a favorable spread of about 6% on the deal.
From Barron's • Oct. 14, 2025
We underestimate how pleasant the exchange will be—for us and for our counterpart—and sell short our conversational chops.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 13, 2025
The first way that shorts benefit from stock watering is that millions of new shares become available to sell short.
From Salon • Apr. 17, 2024
He was shocked how much easier and cheaper it was to buy a credit default swap than it was to sell short an actual cash bond—even though they represented exactly the same bet.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
