buy

American  

[bahy] / baɪ /

verb (used with object)

• buys,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bought,
  past participle,  past
• buying
  present participle

1. to acquire the possession of, or the right to, by paying or promising to pay an equivalent, especially in money; purchase.

   Antonyms:

   sell

2. to acquire by exchange or concession.

   to buy favor with flattery.

3. to hire or obtain the services of.

   The Yankees bought a new center fielder.

4. to bribe.

   Most public officials cannot be bought.

5. to be the monetary or purchasing equivalent of.

   Ten dollars buys less than it used to.

6. Chiefly Theology. to redeem; ransom.

7. Cards. to draw or be dealt (a card).

   He bought an ace.

8. Informal.

   1. to accept or believe.

      I don't buy that explanation.

   2. to be deceived by.

      He bought the whole story.

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verb (used without object)

• buys,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bought,
  past participle,  past
• buying
  present participle

1. to be or become a purchaser.

noun

• buys
  plural

1. an act or instance of buying.

2. something bought or to be bought; purchase.

   That coat was a sensible buy.

3. a bargain.

   The couch was a real buy.

verb phrase

1. buy into to purchase a share, interest, or membership in.

   They tried to buy into the club but were not accepted.

2. buy down to lower or reduce (the mortgage interest rate) by means of a buy-down.

3. buy out to secure all of (an owner or partner's) share or interest in an enterprise.

   She bought out an established pharmacist and is doing very well.

4. buy in Also buy into.

   1. to buy a supply of; accumulate a stock of.

   2. to buy back one's own possession at an auction.

   3. to undertake a buy-in.

5. buy off to get rid of (a claim, opposition, etc.) by payment; purchase the noninterference of; bribe.

   The corrupt official bought off those who might expose him.

6. buy up to buy as much as one can of something or as much as is offered for sale.

   He bought up the last of the strawberries at the fruit market.

idioms

1. buy it, to get killed.

   He bought it at Dunkirk.

buy British  

/ baɪ /

verb

1. to acquire by paying or promising to pay a sum of money or the equivalent; purchase

2. to be capable of purchasing

   money can't buy love

3. to acquire by any exchange or sacrifice

   to buy time by equivocation

4. (intr) to act as a buyer

5. to bribe or corrupt; hire by or as by bribery

6. slang to accept as true, practical, etc

7. to purchase shares of (a company)

   we bought into General Motors

8. (tr) theol (esp of Christ) to ransom or redeem (a Christian or the soul of a Christian)

9. slang to be killed

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noun

1. a purchase (often in the phrases good or bad buy )

Usage

The use of off after buy as in I bought this off my neighbour was formerly considered incorrect, but is now acceptable in informal contexts

Synonym Usage

Buy, purchase imply obtaining or acquiring property or goods for a price. Buy is the common and informal word, applying to any such transaction: to buy a house, vegetables at the market. Purchase is more formal and may connote buying on a larger scale, in a finer store, and the like: to purchase a year's supplies.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• rebuy
  verb
• prebuy
  verb (used with object)
• buyable
  adjective
• nonbuying
  adjective
• unbuyable
  adjective
• unbuying
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• buys
  plural

Participles

• buying
  present
• bought
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• buy
  simple
• buys
  simple
• have bought
  perfect
• has bought
  perfect
• am buying
  progressive
• are buying
  progressive
• is buying
  progressive
• have been buying
  perfect progressive
• has been buying
  perfect progressive

Past

• bought
  simple
• had bought
  perfect
• was buying
  progressive
• were buying
  progressive
• had been buying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will buy
  simple
• will have bought
  perfect
• will be buying
  progressive
• will have been buying
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of buy

First recorded before 1000; Middle English byen, variant of byggen, buggen, Old English bycgan; cognate with Old Saxon buggjan, Gothic bugjan “to buy,” Old Norse byggja “to lend, rent”

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Explanation

When you buy something, you pay money in order to own or obtain it. You might buy your mom a big bouquet of flowers for her birthday. When you buy furniture, food, a car, or candy, you purchase it, exchanging a certain amount of money for it, and when you call something "a buy" or "a steal," it's a real bargain. When you say, "She said she won the lottery, but I don't buy it," you mean that you don't accept that fact as the truth. Even more colloquially, to buy it can also mean "to be killed."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

buy buys bought buying

As skeptical as global investors may be of the budget, they will be hard-pressed to pass up an opportunity to buy euro assets at a generous discount.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

The committee also called for a crackdown on the black market for weight-loss drugs, saying the lack of availability on the NHS had driven people to buy unlicenced products online.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026

“When you buy from a local jeweler, you can see the piece in person — so online, you want those protections in place,” Bodoh said.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026

"Before, I used to buy a lot of snacks at convenience stores, but now I grab them here," she said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026

I need to choose a game I can actually win, so that Dad doesn’t need to buy more tickets to get me the prize he’s hell-bent on making sure I get.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

In much of the Midwest and South, $110,000 buys a nice home, but in the New York, Boston, California or Seattle areas, median prices can top $800,000, depending on the neighborhood.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

CEO Ryan Cohen buys 844,000 shares in the videogame retailer, meaning he now owns more than 42 million overall.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

There’s a lot to be said for the discipline of “Joe Six-Pack,” as the mortgage loan officer described him, who earns less but saves and eventually buys a home.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

Supermarket staples like cleaning spray aren’t usually impulse buys.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

My mouth flapped open like the fish Mom buys at the market for “No Meat Fridays.”

From "P.S. I Miss You" by Jen Petro-Roy

Keen to catch the rerelease, she bought tickets with her AMC A-List membership and roped in two friends for a screening that boasted a mixture of laughs, shock, and dead silence.

From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2026

Among the benefits, he liked that they could be bought in smaller quantities than buying direct, which can be helpful to individual investors, and that the management fees are minimal, usually around 10 basis points.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026

The studio's closure comes months after EA - the video game giant responsible for series including EA FC, The Sims and Battlefield - was bought for $55bn by a Saudi Arabia-led group of investors.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026

He bought and tore down 10 of them.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

Each day, in hope, they bought and cooked too much food, and each night, in silent fear, the two men had eaten alone.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

Even as Americans have pulled back from buying new EVs, the country’s fast-charging infrastructure is growing at a blistering pace.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

"If you're a bit lucky, it's the same as buying at a discount," she told AFP.

From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026

Private companies buying up care homes for older people in England could undermine the government's ambition to create a universal care service, the regulator says.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026

MarketWatch: Is renting or buying the better move for a young person?

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026

By April 2006 he’d finished buying insurance on subprime mortgage bonds.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

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Related Words

• acquire
• get
• market
• obtain
• procure
• purchase
• take

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