buy
[verb]
Synonyms:
- purchase, acquire, get, invest in, obtain, pay for, procure, shop for
[noun]
Synonyms:
- purchase, acquisition, bargain, deal

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Antonyms: sell
Related Words: acquire, get, obtain, procure

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English Thesaurus: buy, purchase, acquire, get, snap something up, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. buy¹ S1 W1 /baɪ/ verb (past tense and past participle bought /bɔːt $ bɒːt/)
[Language: Old English; Origin: bycgan]

1.
a) [intransitive and transitive] to get something by paying money for it Antonym : sell:
Where did you buy that dress?
Ricky showed her the painting he’d bought that morning.
buy somebody something
Let me buy you a drink.
buy something for somebody/something
The money will be used to buy equipment for the school.
buy (something) from somebody
It’s cheaper to buy direct from the manufacturer.
buy something for $10/£200 etc
Dan bought the car for $2,000.
It’s much cheaper to buy in bulk (=buy large quantities of something).
b) [transitive] if a sum of money buys something, it is enough to pay for it:
$50 doesn’t buy much these days.
buy somebody something
$15 should buy us a pizza and a drink.

2. buy (somebody) time to deliberately make more time for yourself to do something, for example by delaying a decision:
‘Can we talk about it later?’ he said, trying to buy a little more time.

3. [transitive] informal to believe something that someone tells you, especially when it is not likely to be true:
‘Let’s just say it was an accident.’ ‘He’ll never buy that.’

4. [transitive] informal to pay money to someone, especially someone in a position of authority, in order to persuade them to do something dishonest Synonym : bribe:
People say the judge had been bought by the Mafia.

5. buy something at the cost/expense/price of something to get something that you want, but only by losing something else:
The town has been careful not to buy prosperity at the expense of its character.

6. somebody bought it old-fashioned informal someone was killed

7. buy off-plan if you buy property off-plan, you buy a house, flat etc that is just starting to be built, with an arrangement to pay part of the cost of the property at that time and the balance when the property is finished

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. buy² noun [countable, usually singular]

1. something that is worth buying, because it is cheap, good quality, or likely to gain in value
a good/excellent etc buy
The wine is a good buy at $6.50.
It’s worth shopping around for the best buy (=what you want at the lowest price).

2. informal an act of buying something, especially something illegal Synonym : deal

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

buy
verb
ADV. cheaply Old bikes can be bought quite cheaply.
VERB + BUY can/can't afford to
PREP. for He bought a car for his daughter. I bought it for £25.
from I bought some books from a friend.
PHRASES buy and sell She makes her living buying and selling antiques.
money can/can't buy It's the best that money can buy. There are some things money can't buy.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

buy to pay money for something so that you can own it:
I’ve just bought a new car.
The painting was bought by a museum in New York.
purchase formal to buy something, especially something large or expensive, in a business deal or by a legal contract:
They purchased 5,000 acres of land.
acquire formal to become the owner of something large or expensive such as property, a company, or a valuable object:
In 2007 the business was acquired by a Dutch company.
Television companies were then allowed to acquire more stations.
get especially spoken to buy something, especially ordinary things such as food, clothes, or things for your house:
Did you remember to get some bread?
I never know what to get Dad for his birthday.
snap something up informal to buy something immediately, especially because it is very cheap, or because you want it very much and you are worried that someone else might buy it first:
Real estate in the area is being snapped up by developers.
pick something up informal to buy something, especially something ordinary such as food or a newspaper, or something that you have found by chance and are pleased about owning:
Could you pick up some milk on your way home?
It’s just a little thing I picked up when I was in Kathmandu.
stock up to buy a lot of something you use regularly, because you may not be able to buy it later, or because you are planning to use more of it than usual:
The supermarkets are full of people stocking up for the New Year’s holiday.
We always stock up on cheap wine when we go to France.
Before the blizzard, we stocked up on food.
splash out British English informal
, splurge American English informal to buy something you would not usually buy, because it is too expensive, in order to celebrate an event or make yourself feel good:
Why don’t you splash out on a new dress for the party?
We splurged on an expensive hotel for the last night of the vacation.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲