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short selling

British  

noun

  1. finance the practice of selling commodities, securities, currencies, etc that one does not have in the expectation that falling prices will enable one to buy them in at a profit before they have to be delivered

"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

Example Sentences

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“I don’t think this makes short selling illegal, but I don’t think the trial gave us enough to say what it does mean,” Sutter said.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 4, 2026

The technical Wall Street term for investors short selling space stocks right now is “getting your face ripped off.”

From Barron's May 27, 2026

The firm focuses on high-growth internet, software and financial-tech stocks, and doesn’t do any short selling.

From The Wall Street Journal Mar. 12, 2026

Our call of the day, from the pioneer of activist short selling, Carson Block, says now is not the time to be shorting AI stocks.

From MarketWatch Feb. 5, 2026

It were well if ill-informed people who deprecate short selling would note this fact.

From The New York Stock Exchange in the Crisis of 1914 by Noble, Henry George Stebbins

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