stock in trade
Americannoun
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the requisites for carrying on a business, especially goods kept on hand for sale in a store.
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resources or abilities peculiar to an individual or group or employed for a specific purpose.
A feeling for language should be part of the stock in trade of any writer.
noun
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goods in stock necessary for carrying on a business
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anything constantly used by someone as a part of his profession, occupation, or trade
friendliness is the salesman's stock in trade
Etymology
Origin of stock in trade
First recorded in 1660–70
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.
But the company has also been accused of overhyping the powers of a technology that is its stock in trade, and the subject of neck-and-neck competition with rival OpenAI.
From Barron's ● Apr. 30, 2026
Football commentator Martin Tyler's voice is his stock in trade.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2024
Late hours are amenable to talk, whether serious or silly, and talk is the series’ stock in trade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2023
Mr. Lorayne did not claim to have invented the mnemonic system that was his stock in trade: As he readily acknowledged, it harked back to classical antiquity.
From New York Times ● Apr. 7, 2023
Deuterons being the Rad Lab’s stock in trade, Lawrence commanded, “Let’s try it out.”
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
