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.
Momentum strategies invest stocks with the best trailing-year returns and sell short those with the worst.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
Members were still free to sell short any Union securities they wished, though.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
The fund is known as a 130/30 fund, and the concept is that if you give me $100, I buy attractive names, then sell short $30 worth of stocks we think will underperform.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
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
The various floors, or tranches, of subprime mortgage bonds all had one thing in common: The bonds were impossible to sell short.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
