trade
Americannoun
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trades
plural
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the act or process of buying, selling, or exchanging commodities, at either wholesale or retail, within a country or between countries.
domestic trade; foreign trade.
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the act of buying, selling, or exchanging stocks, bonds, or currency.
Stock brokerages typically charge a commission per trade.
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a purchase or sale; business deal or transaction.
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an exchange of items, usually without payment of money.
- Synonyms:
- swap
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Sports. the transfer of a player or players among professional teams.
a midseason trade.
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any occupation pursued as a business or livelihood.
- Synonyms:
- craft, living, employment, métier, vocation
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some line of skilled manual or mechanical work; craft.
the trade of a carpenter; printer's trade.
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people engaged in a particular line of business.
a lecture of interest only to the trade.
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market.
an increase in the tourist trade.
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a field of business activity.
a magazine for the furniture trade.
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the customers of a business establishment.
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Informal. trade paper.
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trades. trade wind.
verb (used with object)
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trades,
present (3rd person singular)
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traded,
past participle, past
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trading
present participle
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to buy and sell; barter; traffic in.
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to exchange.
to trade seats.
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Sports. to transfer (a player under contract) from one team to another.
The manager traded two defensive players at the end of the season.
verb (used without object)
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trades,
present (3rd person singular)
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traded,
past participle, past
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trading
present participle
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to carry on trade.
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to be bought, sold, or exchanged.
Stocks traded lower after the release of the jobs report.
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to traffic (usually followed byin ).
a tyrant who trades in human lives.
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to make an exchange.
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to make one's purchases; shop; buy.
adjective
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of or relating to trade or commerce.
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used by, serving, or intended for a particular trade.
trade journal.
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Also trades. of, composed of, or serving the members of a trade.
a trade club.
verb phrase
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trade in to give (a used article) as payment to be credited toward a purchase.
We trade in our car every three years.
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trade down to exchange a more valuable or desirable item for a less valuable or desirable one.
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trade up to exchange a less valuable or desirable item for a more valuable or desirable one.
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trade off to exchange something for or with another.
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trade on / upon to turn to one's advantage, especially selfishly or unfairly; exploit.
to trade on the weaknesses of others.
noun
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the act or an instance of buying and selling goods and services either on the domestic (wholesale and retail) markets or on the international (import, export, and entrepôt) markets
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a personal occupation, esp a craft requiring skill
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the people and practices of an industry, craft, or business
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exchange of one thing for something else
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the regular clientele of a firm or industry
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amount of custom or commercial dealings; business
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a specified market or business
the tailoring trade
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an occupation in commerce, as opposed to a profession
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commercial customers, as opposed to the general public
trade only
trade advertising
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slang:homosexual a sexual partner or sexual partners collectively
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archaic a custom or habit
verb
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(tr) to buy and sell (commercial merchandise)
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to exchange (one thing) for another
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(intr) to engage in trade
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(intr) to deal or do business (with)
we trade with them regularly
adjective
Synonym Usage
Trade , commerce , traffic refer to the exchanging of commodities for other commodities or money. Trade is the general word: a brisk trade between the nations. Commerce applies to trade on a large scale and over an extensive area: international commerce. Traffic may refer to a particular kind of trade; but it usually suggests the travel, transportation, and activity associated with or incident to trade: the opium traffic; heavy traffic on the railroads. See occupation. Trade , bargain , barter , sell refer to exchange or transfer of ownership for some kind of material consideration. Trade conveys the general idea, but often means to exchange articles of more or less even value: to trade with Argentina. Bargain suggests a somewhat extended period of coming to terms: to bargain about the price of a horse. Barter applies especially to exchanging goods, wares, labor, etc., with no transfer of money for the transaction: to barter wheat for machinery. Sell implies transferring ownership, usually for a sum of money: to sell a car.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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intertradenoun
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nontradenoun
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retradeverb
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undertradeverb
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nontradingadjective
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protradeadjective
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tradableadjective
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tradeableadjective
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tradelessadjective
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untradableadjective
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untradeableadjective
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untradedadjective
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untradingadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tradesimple
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tradessimple
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have tradedperfect
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has tradedperfect
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am tradingprogressive
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are tradingprogressive
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is tradingprogressive
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have been tradingperfect progressive
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has been tradingperfect progressive
Past
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tradedsimple
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had tradedperfect
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was tradingprogressive
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were tradingprogressive
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had been tradingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of trade
First recorded in 1300–50; 1540–50 trade for def. 6; Middle English: “course, path, track,” from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch ( Old Saxon trada ), cognate with Old High German trata; akin to tread
Explanation
When Bobby has peanut butter but wants bologna and Billy has bologna but wants peanut butter––they can make a trade. Trade also means a set of job skills––to learn a trade means to train for a certain job. The concept of trading––or bartering––forms the basis of modern civilization––it brings along division of labor, literacy, urbanization. Thinking in those terms you can see how tradespeople––those trained in trades end up essentially trading their services, with money being introduced when the barter system breaks down or becomes too complex.
Vocabulary lists containing trade
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 2
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Can I Work It? Words for "Job"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The ACT Reading Test: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 2
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Asked how Friday's trade talk collapse would impact the North American free trade pact, Carney said it was "certainly not good news".
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
Archaeologists think it could have reached the village through trade with communities in St. Augustine or present-day Jacksonville.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026
Walsh, the hospitality owner, said he was surprised a few days ago when he saw that someone—using a chalkboard where locals trade messages—had wished SpaceX employees luck running a marathon on the island.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
Bigger buybacks of longer-dated Treasurys came as a “shock” to the market and helped to reignite the dollar debasement trade, Coltman said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026
“I have something for him. Something he’ll want to trade me.”
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
The rally likely prompted traders who were short bitcoin — or positioning to profit from falling prices of the cryptocurrency — to exit those trades, he said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026
Micron stock is up more than 700% but still trades at a low valuation.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
“If I were an investigator, I would look for a pattern of trades in markets like Kalshi and Polymarket,” Levitt said, hastening to add that there is no evidence of that at the moment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
Hartnett always likes to highlight contrarian trades in his survey, not necessarily as recommendations so much, but simply to point out where sentiment and positioning might be weakest and therefore susceptible to reversal.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
A few months before I quit, my bosses asked me to explain to our CEO what at the time seemed like exotic trades in derivatives I’d done with a European hedge fund, and I’d tried.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Growing venture capital–backed consumer brands, like Blank Street Coffee and dentist office Tend, traded in neons for pastel greens.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
"We think that this is a thinly traded area of the market, that we're in August, and there's been a lot of corporate issuance that's influenced the market," Bessent said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
Gold last traded up 1.5% at $4,585 a troy ounce.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Under the original Treasury approach to buybacks, the department would buy “off the run” long-term securities that don’t trade, and replace them newer long-term securities that are traded.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
“I traded the innkeep at the last minute.”
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
Canada sends about 70% of its exports to the US, and the country is the top trading partner for a number of US states, with Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio among the most exposed.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
Brazil was also impacted under a separate global tariff regime against US trading partners accused of using forced labor.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
In its statement earlier this week to The Times, Median Strategies said the poll wasn’t released to influence trading markets — a point that Prakash made in his interview with the Guardian.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Bitcoin rebounded sharply from weeks of low volatility and tight range-bound trading as institutional demand for the asset picked up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
The meaningless flow of words might have left the audience with the sense that it was incapable of parsing the deep complexity of Morgan Stanley’s bond trading business.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
