Standard Lemma guide

sale

name · noun · 12 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • sāl
  • /seːl/
  • /seɪl/ pane–pain merger
  • homophone: sail
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S EY1 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

A town in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, historically in Cheshire (OS grid ref SJ9892).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

name

Meaning 2

A town in the Shire of Wellington, Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, named after Robert Sale.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

name

Meaning 3

A surname.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

An exchange of goods or services for currency or credit.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • He celebrated after the sale of company.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Ellipsis of discount sale (“the sale of goods at reduced prices”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable

Examples

  • They are having a clearance sale: 50% off.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

The act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

A hall.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

a particular instance of selling

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he has just made his first sale
  • they had to complete the sale before the banks closed

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: selling, merchandising, marketing

Narrower terms: divestiture

9

noun

Meaning 9

the general activity of selling

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • they tried to boost sales
  • laws limit the sale of handguns

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: selling, merchandising, marketing

Narrower terms: auction, auction sale, vendue, sell

10

noun

Meaning 10

an occasion (usually brief) for buying at specially reduced prices

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • they held a sale to reduce their inventory
  • I got some great bargains at their annual sale

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cut-rate sale, sales event

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: occasion

Narrower terms: bazaar, fair, car boot sale, boot sale, clearance sale, inventory-clearance sale, closeout, fire sale, garage sale, yard sale, going-out-of-business sale, realization, realisation, rummage sale, jumble sale, selloff, white sale

11

noun

Meaning 11

an agreement (or contract) in which property is transferred from the seller (vendor) to the buyer (vendee) for a fixed price in money (paid or agreed to be paid by the buyer)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the salesman faxed the sales agreement to his home office

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sales agreement

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: agreement, understanding

Narrower terms: conditional sale, sheriff's sale, execution sale, judicial sale, forced sale

12

noun

Meaning 12

the state of being purchasable; offered or exhibited for selling

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • you'll find vitamin C for sale at most pharmacies
  • the new line of cars will soon be on sale

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: merchantability

History

Etymology

From Old English sealh (“willow tree”).

From Middle English sale, from Old English sala (“act of selling, sale”), from Old Norse sala (“sale”), from Proto-Germanic *salō (“delivery”), from Proto-Indo-European *selh1- (“to grab”).

From Middle English sale, sal, from Old English sæl (“room, hall, castle”), from Proto-Germanic *salą (“house, hall”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel- (“home, dwelling, village”). Cognate with West Frisian seal, Dutch zaal, German Saal, Swedish sal, Icelandic salur, Lithuanian sala (“village”). Doublet of sala and salle. Related also to salon, saloon.

Across languages

Translations

203 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: shitje — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Arabic: بَيْع (bayʕ) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Arabic: بيع (bīʕ) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Armenian: վաճառք (vačaṙkʻ) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Asturian: venta — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Azerbaijani: satış — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Belarusian: про́даж (pródaž) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Bengali: বিক্রয় (bikroẏ) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Bulgarian: прода́жба (prodážba) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Catalan: venda — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Central Atlas Tamazight: ⴰⵣⵏⵣⵉ (aznzi) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Chechen: йохкар (joxkar) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Chinese Cantonese: 賣嘢 /卖嘢 (maai6 je5) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Chinese Cantonese: 銷售 /销售 (siu1 sau6) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Chinese Mandarin: 銷售 /销售 (xiāoshòu) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Czech: prodej — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Danish: salg — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Dolgan: атыы — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Dutch: verkoop — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Esperanto: vendo — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Esperanto: vendado — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Estonian: müük — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Farefare: koosgo — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Finnish: myynti — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • French: vente — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Galician: venda — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Georgian: გაყიდვა (gaq̇idva) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • German: Verkauf — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Greek: πώληση (pólisi) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Ancient Greek: πρᾶσις (prâsis) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Ancient Greek: πώλησις (pṓlēsis) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Hebrew: מְכִירָה (m'khirá) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Higaonon: tinda — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Hindi: विक्रय (vikray) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Hindi: बिक्री (bikrī) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Hindi: फ़रोख़्त (faroxt) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Hindi: फरोख्त (pharokht) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Hungarian: eladás — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Hungarian: árusítás — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Icelandic: sala — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Indonesian: penjualan — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Interlingua: vendita — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Irish: díol — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Irish: díolachán — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Italian: vendita — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Japanese: 販売 (hambai) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Kazakh: сату (satu) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Khmer: ការលក់ (kaa lŭək) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Korean: 판매 (panmae) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Northern Kurdish: firotin — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Kyrgyz: сатуу (satuu) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Lao: ການຂາຍ (kān khāi) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Latgalian: puordūšona — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Latgalian: puordavums — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Latin: venum — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Latin: venditio — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Latvian: pārdošana — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Lithuanian: pardavimas — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Macedonian: продажба (prodažba) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Malay: jualan — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Malay: penjualan — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Mongolian: борлуулалт (borluulalt) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Mongolian: худалдаа (xudaldaa) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Moore: koosgo — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Norman: vente — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Norwegian Bokmål: salg — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Occitan: venda — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Pashto: خرڅلاو (xarślāw) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Iranian Persian: فُروش (foruš) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Iranian Persian: فُروخْت (foruxt) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Iranian Persian: بِیع (bey') — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Polish: sprzedaż — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Portuguese: venda — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Quechua: rantikuy — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Quechua: qhatuy — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Romanian: vânzare — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Romanian: vindere — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Russian: прода́жа (prodáža) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Serbo-Croatian: про̏даја — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Serbo-Croatian: prȍdaja — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Slovak: predaj — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Slovene: prodaja — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Somali: iib — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Spanish: venta — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Swedish: försäljning — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Tagalog: pagbili — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Tajik: фурӯш (furüš) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Tajik: фурӯхт (furüxt) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Tajik: байъ (bay') — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Tashelhit: ⴰⵣⵏⵣⵉ (aznzi) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Telugu: అమ్మకము (ammakamu) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Thai: การขาย (gaan-kǎai) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Turkish: satış — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Ottoman Turkish: فروخت (füruht) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Turkmen: satuw — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Ukrainian: про́даж (pródaž) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Ukrainian: спро́даж (spródaž) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Urdu: بِکْری (bikrī) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Urdu: فَروخْت (faroxt) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Urdu: بَیع (bai') — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Uzbek: sotish — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Vietnamese: sự bán — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Walloon: vindaedje — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Walloon: vinte — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Yiddish: פֿאַרקויף (farkoyf) — exchange of goods or services for currency or credit
  • Arabic: تخفيض (taḵfīḍ) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Belarusian: распро́даж (raspródaž) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Belarusian: спро́даж (spródaž) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Bulgarian: разпрода́жба (razprodážba) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Catalan: rebaixa — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Chinese Mandarin: 拍賣 /拍卖 (pāimài) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Chinese Mandarin: 大賤賣 /大贱卖 (dàjiànmài) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Chinese Mandarin: 甩賣 /甩卖 (shuǎimài) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Czech: výprodej — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Dutch: uitverkoop — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Dutch: solden — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Esperanto: rabato — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Finnish: alennusmyynti — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Finnish: ale — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • French: soldes — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • French: liquidation — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • French: promotion — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Georgian: აქცია (akcia) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • German: Sonderangebote haben — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • German: im Sonderangebot haben — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • German: Angebote haben — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • German: im Angebot haben — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • German: Abverkauf — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • German: Schlussverkauf — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • German: Ausverkauf — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Greek: έκπτωση (ékptosi) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Hebrew: מִבְצָע (mivtsá) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Hungarian: akció — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Hungarian: kiárusítás — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Icelandic: útsala — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Interlingua: liquidation — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Irish: sladmhargadh — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Italian: saldo — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Italian: liquidazione — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Italian: svendita — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Japanese: 安売り (yasuuri) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Japanese: 特売 (tokubai) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Japanese: セール (sēru) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Japanese: 廉売 (renbai) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Korean: 세일 (seil) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Korean: 염매 (yeommae) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Northern Kurdish: tenzîlat — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Latgalian: izpuordūšona — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Latgalian: izpuordavums — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Latin: venum — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Latin: venditio — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Latin: venditio ternimans — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Latin: venum ternimans — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Latin: venum terminans — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Latin: venditio terminans — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Latvian: izpārdošana — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Lithuanian: išpardavimas — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Macedonian: распродажба (rasprodažba) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Norwegian Bokmål: salg — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Iranian Persian: حَراج (harâj) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Iranian Persian: تَخْفیف (taxfif) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Polish: wyprzedaż — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Portuguese: promoção — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Russian: распрода́жа (rasprodáža) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Russian: сейл (sɛjl) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Russian: сэйл (sɛjl) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Serbo-Croatian: ра̏спродаја — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Serbo-Croatian: rȁsprodaja — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Slovak: výpredaj — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Slovene: razprodaja — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Spanish: liquidación — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Spanish: rebaja — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Spanish: rebajas — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Spanish: sale — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Swedish: rea — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Swedish: realisation — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Ukrainian: розпро́даж (rozpródaž) — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Vietnamese: sự hạ giá — sale of goods at reduced prices
  • Arabic: مُزَايَدَة (muzāyada) — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Bulgarian: търг (tǎrg) — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Dutch: veiling — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Dutch: veilingverkoop — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Dutch: verkoop — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Finnish: huutokauppa — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • French: vente — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • French: vente aux enchères — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • German: Auktion — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Interlingua: auction — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Northern Kurdish: mezat — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Latgalian: vairasūleišona — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Latgalian: torgi — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Latin: venum liberum — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Latin: venum — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Latin: venditio libera — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Latin: venditio — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Latvian: ūtrupe — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Latvian: izpārdošana — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Norman: vente — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Norwegian Bokmål: auksjon — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Portuguese: leilão — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Russian: аукцио́н (aukción) — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Russian: торги́ (torgí) — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder
  • Swedish: auktion — act of putting up for auction to the highest bidder