Library / English Dictionary

PURCHASE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The acquisition of something for payment

Example:

they closed the purchase with a handshake

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("purchase" is a kind of...):

acquisition (the act of contracting or assuming or acquiring possession of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "purchase"):

buyback; redemption; repurchase (the act of purchasing back something previously sold)

buying; purchasing (the act of buying)

Derivation:

purchase (obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A means of exerting influence or gaining advantage

Example:

he could get no purchase on the situation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("purchase" is a kind of...):

influence (the effect of one thing (or person) on another)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The mechanical advantage gained by being in a position to use a lever

Synonyms:

leverage; purchase

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("purchase" is a kind of...):

mechanical phenomenon (a physical phenomenon associated with the equilibrium or motion of objects)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Something acquired by purchase

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("purchase" is a kind of...):

acquisition (something acquired)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "purchase"):

stock buyback (a corporation's purchase of its own outstanding stock; increases earnings/share so stock price rises (which can discourage a takeover attempt))

bargain; buy; steal (an advantageous purchase)

Derivation:

purchase (obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction

Example:

She buys for the big department store

Synonyms:

buy; purchase

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "purchase" is one way to...):

acquire; get (come into the possession of something concrete or abstract)

"Purchase" entails doing...:

pay (give money, usually in exchange for goods or services)

choose; pick out; select; take (pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives)

Verb group:

buy (be worth or be capable of buying)

Domain category:

commerce; commercialism; mercantilism (transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "purchase"):

buy back; repurchase (buy what had previously been sold, lost, or given away)

take (buy, select)

get (purchase)

subscribe; subscribe to; take (receive or obtain regularly)

buy out; buy up; take over (take over ownership of; of corporations and companies)

pick up (buy casually or spontaneously)

buy food; take out (purchase prepared food to be eaten at home)

impulse-buy (buy on impulse without proper reflection)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something from somebody

Sentence example:

The children purchase the ball

Derivation:

purchase (the acquisition of something for payment)

purchase (something acquired by purchase)

purchaser (a person who buys)

purchasing (the act of buying)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Fifteen years! my dear Fanny; her life cannot be worth half that purchase.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I have no doubt that the house might have been purchased at the price which Holmes paid for his rooms during the years that I was with him.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

After a year, shoppers were still purchasing over 15% fewer of the items compared to when no policy was in place.

(Removing sweets and crisps from supermarket checkouts linked to dramatic fall in unhealthy snack purchases, University of Cambridge)

If you would engage a front room and purchase the necessaries for the night, I may have time to make a few inquiries.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The purchase will be completed in a week, and meanwhile you will remain in Birmingham and make yourself useful.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was an improved crank windlass, and the purchase it gave was enormous.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

This academy is not an entire single building, but a continuation of several houses on both sides of a street, which growing waste, was purchased and applied to that use.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Samples of 32 pairs of children’s socks (from new-borns to aged 48 months) were analysed, having been purchased in three different types of retail outlet, classified according to the price range of their products.

(Nine out of ten pairs of baby socks on the market contain traces of bisphenol A and parabens, University of Granada)

Her beauty, her pink cheeks and golden curls, seemed to give delight to all who looked at her, and to purchase indemnity for every fault.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

If the genetically modified corn can be successfully deployed, those who live in developing countries “wouldn't have to purchase methionine supplements or expensive foods that have higher methionine," Leustek said.

(US Researchers Genetically Modify Corn to Boost Nutritional Value, VOA News)