short selling

British

noun

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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

He said Regencell’s chief executive, Yat-Gai Au, “firmly believes that the company’s shares have consistently been a target of short selling from our IPO to present.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 27, 2026

Another proposal would make the margin required on short selling to increase as the short interest rises.

From Barron's • Jan. 23, 2026

Some have responded with calls for tighter rules around short selling and social media-fuelled trading.

From BBC • Oct. 22, 2025

By short selling, we mean selling a stock that you do not possess, with the intention of buying it later.

From Successful Stock Speculation by Butler, John James

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023