sale
noun
ˈsāl 
1
: the act of selling
specifically : the transfer of ownership of and title to property from one person to another for a price
2
a
: opportunity of selling or being sold : demand
b
: distribution by selling
3
: public disposal to the highest bidder : auction
4
: a selling of goods at bargain prices
5
sales plural
a
: operations and activities involved in promoting and selling goods or services
vice president in charge of sales
b
: gross receipts
Synonyms
- deal
- trade
- transaction
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
They profited from the sale of the house. Sales are up by $6,000 this month. The company made over one million dollars in sales this quarter. The store is having a spring sale. Everything in the store will be 15 percent off during the sale. There is a sale on flights between New York and Paris. He has a job in sales. The department is in charge of sales and marketing. See More
Recent Examples on the Web The city began exploring a Skyway sale to private operators in 2002 under then-Mayor Richard M. Daley, seeking money to pay off several hundred million dollars in outstanding bonds for the toll road. 
Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune, 13 Sep. 2022 Twitter shareholders voted Tuesday to approve the $44 billion sale of the company to Elon Musk, who is trying to back out of the deal. Jacob Carpenter, Fortune, 13 Sep. 2022 Twitter’s board approved the sale to Musk in April, after just a couple of weeks of talks. Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Sep. 2022 Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Sept. 16. Patrick Connolly, Orlando Sentinel, 13 Sep. 2022 Russia has previously complained to Turkey over its sale of the drones to Ukraine. Zeena Saifi, CNN, 12 Sep. 2022 Season packages tickets will go on sale to new subscribers in mid-October, and single tickets will become available to the general public sometime next year. Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 7 Sep. 2022 Weeks later, the State Department approved a potential sale of 300 Patriot missiles to Saudi Arabia for roughly $3.05 billion to help the Arab nation defend against Houthi drone and missile attacks. Ronn Blitzer, Fox News, 7 Sep. 2022 The price tag of a potential U.S. arms sale to Taiwan that’s drawn the ire of China. Ben Kamisar, NBC News, 6 Sep. 2022 See More
Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune, 13 Sep. 2022 Twitter shareholders voted Tuesday to approve the $44 billion sale of the company to Elon Musk, who is trying to back out of the deal. Jacob Carpenter, Fortune, 13 Sep. 2022 Twitter’s board approved the sale to Musk in April, after just a couple of weeks of talks. Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Sep. 2022 Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Sept. 16. Patrick Connolly, Orlando Sentinel, 13 Sep. 2022 Russia has previously complained to Turkey over its sale of the drones to Ukraine. Zeena Saifi, CNN, 12 Sep. 2022 Season packages tickets will go on sale to new subscribers in mid-October, and single tickets will become available to the general public sometime next year. Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 7 Sep. 2022 Weeks later, the State Department approved a potential sale of 300 Patriot missiles to Saudi Arabia for roughly $3.05 billion to help the Arab nation defend against Houthi drone and missile attacks. Ronn Blitzer, Fox News, 7 Sep. 2022 The price tag of a potential U.S. arms sale to Taiwan that’s drawn the ire of China. Ben Kamisar, NBC News, 6 Sep. 2022 See More Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Old English sala; akin to Old High German sala transfer, Old English sellan to sell — more at sell
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Phrases Containing sale
Kids Definition
sale
noun
ˈsāl
1
: an exchange of goods or property for money
2
: an event at which goods are sold at lowered prices
Legal Definition
sale
noun
1
a
: the transfer of title to property from one party to another for a price
also : the contract of such a transaction see also short entry 1 sense 3 compare barter, donation, exchange, gift
— absolute sale
: a sale that takes place without conditions and with title simply passing to the buyer upon payment of the price compare conditional sale in this entry
— bulk sale
: a sale not in the ordinary course of the seller's business of more than half of the seller's inventory
called also bulk transfer
Note: Article 6 of the Uniform Commercial Code governs bulk sales. Under section 6-102(c), in order for a sale to be considered a bulk sale, the buyer (or an auctioneer or liquidator if the sale is an auction) must have been given notice or been able upon reasonable inquiry to have had notice that the seller will not afterward continue to operate the same or a similar kind of business.
— cash sale
: a sale in which payment must be made in cash
Note: Under U.C.C. section 2-310, payment must be made in cash at the time and place that the buyer receives the goods unless there is a prior agreement between the parties for a sale on credit.
— conditional sale
: a sale that is complete only when one or more conditions are met
specifically : a sale in which the seller extends credit to the buyer to purchase the item and takes a security interest in the item with the buyer receiving title when the debt has been fully paid off compare absolute sale in this entry
— execution sale
: a sale carried out to execute a judgment under authority of a judicial officer (as a court clerk) but not by court order
— forced sale
: a sale of property ordered by a court in order to satisfy a creditor's judgment against a debtor
— foreclosure sale
: a sale of property upon default of a mortgage to satisfy the debt
— judicial sale
: a sale of property conducted by an authorized official by order of a court : forced sale in this entry
— private sale
: an often unadvertised sale of property that is not open to the general public and does not take place at a set time or place
— public sale
: a sale (as an auction) that is publicly advertised and that takes place at a location open to the public
— sale in gross
: a sale of a tract of land that is not made with a guarantee as to the exact amount of land involved
also : the sale of an undivided property (as in execution of a judgment)
— sale on approval
: a conditional sale whose completion depends on acceptance of the goods by a buyer (as a consumer) receiving them primarily for use with the option to return them if they do not meet his or her approval even though they conform to contract
— sale or return
: a conditional sale whose completion depends on acceptance of the goods by a buyer (as a merchant) receiving them primarily for resale with the option to return them if they are not resold even though they conform to contract
— sheriff's sale
: a forced sale of property by a sheriff or deputy sheriff
— short sale
: a sale of securities or commodities that the seller does not possess or has not contracted for at the time of the sale
Note: The purpose of a short sale is to profit from an anticipated drop in the price of a security or commodity. Typically, an investor directs a broker to borrow a quantity of stocks and to sell them at the current price. If the price drops, the investor then repurchases an equal quantity at the lower price, returns the borrowed stocks, and retains the difference in price as profit. If the price rises instead of falling, the investor may choose or be compelled to repurchase the stocks at a higher price and to accept a loss.
: the sale of a mortgaged property in which the property owner receives for the sale less than the amount owing on the mortgage loan and the lender agrees to accept the amount received as payment in full of the mortgage loan
Note: Short sales are sometimes used as an alternative to foreclosure.
— tax sale
: a forced sale of property resulting from nonpayment of taxes by the owner compare tax lien at lien
b
: a contract for selling or disposing of a security or an interest in a security for value see also short entry 1 sense 2b, wash sale
2
: the transfer of a controlled substance to another person for money or other consideration
3
: a selling of goods at lower than usual prices
4
plural
a
: operations and activities involved in promoting and selling goods and services
vice-president of sales
b
: gross receipts
c
: income calculated under the accrual basis of accounting
Geographical Definition
Salé
geographical name
Sa·lé sa-ˈlā
variants or chiefly formerly Sallee
ˈsa-lē
or Arabic Sla ˈslä
city and port at the mouth of a river in northwestern Morocco; a northern suburb of Rabat area population 849,000
sale
noun
as in auction
the transfer of ownership of something from one person to another for a price my neighbor tried to make a sale, but no one was interested in buying his old car they made enough profit from the sale of the house for a down payment on the new one Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- auction
- transaction
- purchase
- deal
- buy
- bargain
- trade
- negotiation
- steal
- clearance
- silent auction
- closeout
- fire sale
- garage sale
- rummage sale
- haggle
- fair
- jumble sale
- tag sale
- yard sale
- horse-trading
Phrases Containing sale
- get right
- get robbed
- get rolling
- get round
- get round (to)
- get round to
- get round to (something)
- get round to something
- get scared
- get shot of
- get smart with
- get some sun
- get someone good
- get someone noticed
- get someone or something wrong
- get someone out of
- get someone out of something
- get someone out of trouble
- get someone wrong
- get someone's attention
- get someone's dander up
- get someone's drift
- get someone's goat
- get someone's measure
- get something off one's chest