Sale Definition: Examples, Idioms, and Exercises

Look at some instances where the meaning of “sale” as selling something is applied in context:

The “sale” description allows it to be replaced with other words for more details.

Related nouns: price customer shop

Synonyms (contextual): deal trade selling

Common collocations: a car sale a ticket sale to make a sale to stop a sale

Collocations with verbs, adjectives and nouns help make the use of “sale” in English more specific.

With adjectives: an online sale a big sale a half-price sale a new sale a quick sale

With verbs: to have a sale to want a sale to plan a sale to start a sale

With nouns (noun + noun): a house sale a winter sale a Christmas sale

Idioms and Phrases with “Sale”

Here are some phrases that are actively used in shops:

• For sale is used to tell others that you want to sell something (a house, a car, a phone and so on).

  iPhone 17 is now for sale. I am going to buy one tomorrow.

• On sale refers to a situation where goods or services cost less than usual.

  This laptop is on sale because it has a screen scratch. It is cheaper, but I will buy a full-price one.

You’ve discovered how to define “sale” and know the special phrases and collocations, so now it is time to understand how well you’ve grasped them with interactive exercises.

Check how you spell “sale” in other European languages. We’ll give you one hint: these words have similar forms.

Record-Breaking Sales Facts

What was the most expensive sale on the free market? What book is ranked first in relation to the copies sold? Learn about cool sales that made those companies very proud of themself to know what a “sale” means for big businesses:

• Vodafone paid almost $200 billion to buy a telecommunications company.

  Do you think X (known as Twitter) was expensive? In 1999–2000, Vodafone Group paid approximately $183 billion to acquire Mannesmann AG. Taking inflation into account, the sum nowadays is close to $345 billion.

• The best-selling movie of all time, Avatar, has collected almost $3 billion.

  According to Box Office Mojo, Avatar has the highest sales of any movie. The success of the first part was followed by the release of the second part, which brought an additional $2 billion, placing it third on the list.

• The novel that has the most sales is Don Quixote.

  More than 500 million copies of Don Quixote have been sold across the globe. The Harry Potter series has about 600 million copies, but speaking about a single story, Don Quixote remains the most popular.

• People make sales for about $80 billion in retail each day.

  Each year, we spend about $31 trillion on food, clothing, and other knick-knacks. However, on days like Black Friday or Alibaba Singles’ Day in China, big marketplaces sell goods for more than half of the usual daily budget.

For writers and philosophers, the description of sale is a source of inspiration for discussing life and principles.

— Stephen Hawking

This is a joke between the scientist and his editor about the influence of mathematical formulas on the book: many readers won’t pick it up as soon as they see any numbers.

— Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales

The author talks about a society where everything can be bought and sold, criticizing the idea—common in medieval times—that money and connections can buy anything.

— Jeff Koons

For artists who can’t or don’t want to rely on the traditional art market, sales become crucial work they can’t ignore if they want to succeed.