tariff
Americannoun
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an official list or table showing the duties or customs imposed by a government on imports or exports.
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the schedule or system of duties so imposed.
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any duty or rate of duty in such a list or schedule.
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any table of charges, as of a railroad, bus line, etc.
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bill; cost; charge.
verb (used with object)
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to subject to a tariff.
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to put a valuation on according to a tariff.
noun
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a tax levied by a government on imports or occasionally exports for purposes of protection, support of the balance of payments, or the raising of revenue
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a system or list of such taxes
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any schedule of prices, fees, fares, etc
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a method of charging for the supply of services, esp public services, such as gas and electricity
block tariff
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a schedule of such charges
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a bill of fare with prices listed; menu
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the level of punishment imposed for a criminal offence
verb
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to set a tariff on
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to set a price on according to a schedule of tariffs
Usage
What does tariff mean? A tariff is a tax or duty on products that come into a country (imports) or leave it (exports), imposed by the country’s government. A tariff is also the list of taxes a government imposes on imports and exports. To tariff can mean to subject to a tariff. Example: There is a high tariff on foreign music CDs, so I just stream it instead.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tariffsimple
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tariffssimple
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have tariffedperfect
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has tariffedperfect
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am tariffingprogressive
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are tariffingprogressive
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is tariffingprogressive
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have been tariffingperfect progressive
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has been tariffingperfect progressive
Past
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tariffedsimple
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had tariffedperfect
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was tariffingprogressive
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were tariffingprogressive
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had been tariffingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tariff
First recorded in 1585–95; earlier tariffa, from Italian, from Arabic taʿrīfah, derivative of ʿarrafa “to make known,” akin to ʿarafa “to know”
Explanation
A tariff is a kind of tax on goods a country imports or exports. If you want to buy a European-made car in the U.S., the price will include tariffs the government adds to the price of imported vehicles. Usually a government imposes a tariff to encourage its own industries and to discourage buying cheaper imports from other countries. If a government wants to protect its own clothing industry, it may add a tariff to imported clothing, to make sure that the imported clothes aren't cheaper than the locally manufactured items. You can control exports, too, by imposing tariffs. As a verb, you can say "the government tariffs certain imports and exports."
Vocabulary lists containing tariff
American History I
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The American Revolution - Introductory
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The United States
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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.
See Examples For:
The lower 10-percent tariff rate would hit US imports from partners including Canada, the European Union, Mexico, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Analysts widely expect the duties over forced labor to replace the temporary 10-percent global tariff -- expiring Friday -- that Trump imposed after his Supreme Court setback.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
The 25-percent Brazil tariff followed a year-long US investigation, with Washington accusing the Latin American giant of unfair trade practices.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
This hidden barrier prices American goods out of the market without a traditional tariff.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
The tariff controversy was settled, but it hinted at a greater problem.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
In crafting the replacement tariffs, administration officials have said they would devise levies at similar levels to the expiring levies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
A broader sweep is yet to come, with officials in June proposing tariffs of between 10 percent and 12.5 percent targeting 60 trading partners over alleged failures to act against forced labor.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
After Trump imposed tariffs, GM pledged to spend billions on expanding U.S. production of more lucrative gas-powered trucks and SUVs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Gross margins troughed at 6.3% in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, which CEO Charles Liang attributed to customer mix, tariffs and shortages of key components such as memory products.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
The United States and Oman had just completed negotiations on a free-trade agreement to eliminate tariffs and trade barriers between the two nations.
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
It’s also possible that retailers, figuring that consumers would expect to pay more for tariffed washing machines and would assume the same effect held for dryers, charged more for the latter to fatten their profits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2026
Importers have been agile in switching their supply chains away from the most highly tariffed countries.
From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2026
It means a business will send goods somewhere without the knowledge of how those goods will be valued when it arrives at customs... you wouldn't know how your goods will be valued before you're tariffed.
From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026
The fires sidelined a critical Novelis factory in New York, forcing Ford to import heavily tariffed aluminum until the plant is fully back online, which Ford expects will be sometime between May and September.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
Ships, colonies, commerce, mean to a European nation of to-day just what our vast, half-improved, heavily tariffed territory means to us.
From Lessons of the war with Spain and other articles by Mahan, A. T. (Alfred Thayer)
This is why the surreal stories about the US tariffing rarely visited islands only inhabited by penguins matter.
From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2025
“You can’t be tariffing people at the same exact time that you’re negotiating a detailed arrangement with them,” Mr. Ross said, while describing them as a cocked pistol.
From New York Times ● May 21, 2018
He had something to do with the high cost of tariffing.
From Who Was Who: 5000 BC - 1914 Biographical Dictionary of the Famous and Those Who Wanted to Be by Gordon, Irwin Leslie
The exportation of the national specie was still forbidden, and more than once the State found itself obliged to return to the question of the tariffing of its coinage.
From The History of Currency, 1252 to 1896 by Shaw, William Arthur
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.
