sold

American  

[sohld] / soʊld /

verb

1. simple past tense and past participle of sell.

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sold British  

/ səʊld /

verb

1. the past tense and past participle of sell

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adjective

1. slang uncritically attached to or enthusiastic about

Other Word Forms

• self-sold
  adjective
• unsold
  adjective
• well-sold
  adjective

Explanation

Something that's sold has been exchanged for money. When new neighbors buy the house across the street, you'll see a sign appear in its front yard that says "Sold." Once you sell something, you can describe it as sold, whether it's a sold item at your yard sale, waiting beside the driveway for its buyer to pick it up, or the sold trees at the Christmas tree farm, marked with colored tape. The word sold comes from sell and its root meaning of "offer up or deliver." Offer up the highest bid on a painting at an auction and you'll hear the auctioneer call out, "Sold!"

Example Sentences

He sold prayer beads, rugs and an array of snacks.

From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026

To extend a metaphor from a previous column, back in the day the McDonnell Douglas aircraft company made DC-9s for the world but sold F-4s and A-4s only to buyers licensed by the U.S. government.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

A few months back, I made the mistake of trying to buy a product from Target, a store where products are sold — allegedly.

From Salon • May 22, 2026

The table below looks at put spreads to hedge a correction half the size of those rallies, and shows which calls need to be sold to fund the cost of the put spread.

From MarketWatch • May 22, 2026

I’d like to bring the stroller, but Mom sold the good one and the old one is missing a wheel.

From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko