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

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”

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

Anthropic is reportedly preparing for a potentially record-setting initial public offering on the stock market, allowing people to buy shares in its firm.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

And on that note: buy whatever mushrooms look good and are on sale.

From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026

DBS reiterates its buy rating and 144.00 Hong Kong dollar target price on the stock.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

Oil prices remained above the $100 threshold on Monday — and strategists recommend seizing the opportunity to buy stocks.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026

“I’ll buy you a coffee, I’ll take the blame—anything, just switch places with me for today’s shift. Please.”

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

A retired government employee who now works at Dodger Stadium, Gonzalez buys herself one of Zaggle’s purses for every birthday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

When CPL buys an item, its system records the retail price; when a patron checks it out, that amount gets added to the running total.

From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026

Nvidia buys Hugging Face for $12.9 billion as it spreads bets across Anthropic, OpenAI, and their open-weight competitors.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

Here’s an extremely simplistic illustration to see how the rent-and-invest versus buy numbers could play out today, using a calculator provided by Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi: A 35-year-old buys a starter home.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026

When he arrives in England, Vincent buys a top hat.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

Unbeknown to him, James had also tried Monk’s ex-wife, who hadn’t bought the pitch.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

The building was bought by Kingswood Homes in 2025 and the developer has submitted plans to Wigan Council under which the hall's restoration would be financed by building new homes.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

Martin assured him at Saturday's meeting that Doonbeg's 784 residents were "very grateful" for the Trump Organization's investment there after it bought the site in 2014, noting his family were "welcome" there.

From Barron's ● Sep. 13, 2026

The seller, Raymond Uritescu, CEO of a Rhode Island-based real-estate investment firm, bought the property as a vacant lot in 2021 for $6 million.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

The one I gave her last spring because Mom had bought it for me, but the lines were farther apart than I like them.

From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison

Rick Phillips has been buying annuities for about a decade, paying upfront sums for the peace of mind of fixed returns.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

I’ll break down one of my favorite “higher for longer” investments in my next free Let’s Analyze newsletter, including why I’m buying it and the setup I’m watching.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026

“Instead of buying six items, they’re buying three items.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026

If not, there is the option of buying contents insurance.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

“With the Bear guys I had this suspicion that, if there were any credit default swaps on CDOs to buy, they were buying it for themselves,” said Charlie.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Related Words

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