Library / English Dictionary

TRADE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The skilled practice of a practical occupation

Example:

he learned his trade as an apprentice

Synonyms:

craft; trade

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

business; job; line; line of work; occupation (the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money)

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

wine making; winemaking (the craft and science of growing grapes and making wine)

upholstery (the craft of upholstering)

undertaking (the trade of a funeral director)

typography (the craft of composing type and printing from it)

tanning (making leather from rawhide)

mintage (act or process of minting coins)

handicraft (a craft that requires skillful hands)

tool-and-die work (the craft of making special tools and dies)

tailoring (the occupation of a tailor)

shingling (the laying on of shingles)

sheet-metal work (the craft of doing sheet metal work (as in ventilation systems))

roofing (the craft of a roofer)

cobbling; shoe repairing; shoemaking (the shoemaker's trade)

pyrotechnics; pyrotechny (the craft of making fireworks)

pottery (the craft of making earthenware)

airplane mechanics (the craft of building and repairing airplanes)

auto mechanics (the craft of building and repairing automobiles)

basketry (the craft of basket making)

carpentry; woodwork; woodworking (the craft of a carpenter: making things out of wood)

drafting; mechanical drawing (the craft of drawing blueprints)

dressmaking (the craft of making dresses)

electrical work (the craft of an electrician)

interior decorating; interior decoration (the trade or act of decorating the interior of a building or room, especially with regard to color combination, paint, fabrics, carpeting, etc.)

lumbering (the trade of cutting or preparing or selling timber)

masonry (the craft of a mason)

oculism (the craft of an oculist)

house painting; painting (the occupation of a house painter)

papermaking (the craft of making paper)

pilotage; piloting (the occupation of a pilot)

plumbery; plumbing (the occupation of a plumber (installing and repairing pipes and fixtures for water or gas or sewage in a building))

Sense 2

Meaning:

The commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or international markets) of goods and services

Example:

they are accused of conspiring to constrain trade

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

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

Domain member category:

protect (use tariffs to favor domestic industry)

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

fair trade (trade that is conducted legally)

fair trade (trade that satisfies certain criteria on the supply chain of the goods involved, usually including fair payment for producers; often with other social and environmental considerations)

free trade (international trade free of government interference)

Derivation:

trade (do business; offer for sale as for one's livelihood)

trade (turn in as payment or part payment for a purchase)

trade (engage in the trade of)

trade (be traded at a certain price or under certain conditions)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The business given to a commercial establishment by its customers

Example:

even before noon there was a considerable patronage

Synonyms:

patronage; trade

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

business (the volume of commercial activity)

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

custom (habitual patronage)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An equal exchange

Example:

we had no money so we had to live by barter

Synonyms:

barter; swap; swop; trade

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

exchange; interchange (reciprocal transfer of equivalent sums of money (especially the currencies of different countries))

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

horse trade; horse trading (the swapping of horses (accompanied by much bargaining))

Derivation:

trade (exchange or give (something) in exchange for)

trade (turn in as payment or part payment for a purchase)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A particular instance of buying or selling

Example:

he's a master of the business deal

Synonyms:

business deal; deal; trade

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

dealing; dealings; transaction (the act of transacting within or between groups (as carrying on commercial activities))

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

arms deal (a deal to provide military arms)

penny ante (a business deal on a trivial scale)

Derivation:

trade (do business; offer for sale as for one's livelihood)

trade (turn in as payment or part payment for a purchase)

trade (engage in the trade of)

trade (be traded at a certain price or under certain conditions)

Sense 6

Meaning:

People who perform a particular kind of skilled work

Example:

as they say in the trade

Synonyms:

craft; trade

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

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

class; social class; socio-economic class; stratum (people having the same social, economic, or educational status)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Steady winds blowing from east to west above and below the equator

Example:

they rode the trade winds going west

Synonyms:

trade; trade wind

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

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

prevailing wind (the predominant wind direction)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Do business; offer for sale as for one's livelihood

Example:

The brothers sell shoes

Synonyms:

deal; sell; trade

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

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

transact (conduct business)

Verb group:

sell (be sold at a certain price or in a certain way)

deal (sell)

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 "trade"):

hawk; huckster; monger; peddle; pitch; vend (sell or offer for sale from place to place)

market (deal in a market)

pyramid (use or deal in (as of stock or commercial transaction) in a pyramid deal)

black marketeer (deal on the black market)

deal (sell)

push (sell or promote the sale of (illegal goods such as drugs))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

trading (buying or selling securities or commodities)

trade (a particular instance of buying or selling)

trade (the commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or international markets) of goods and services)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Exchange or give (something) in exchange for

Synonyms:

swap; switch; swop; trade

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

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

change; exchange; interchange (give to, and receive from, one another)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Sentence example:

They trade the tourists their cars

Derivation:

trade (an equal exchange)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Turn in as payment or part payment for a purchase

Example:

trade in an old car for a new one

Synonyms:

trade; trade in

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

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

change; exchange; interchange (give to, and receive from, one another)

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 "trade"):

barter away (trade in in a bartering transaction)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

trade (the commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or international markets) of goods and services)

trade (an equal exchange)

trade (a particular instance of buying or selling)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Engage in the trade of

Example:

he is merchandising telephone sets

Synonyms:

merchandise; trade

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

"Trade" entails doing...:

sell (exchange or deliver for money or its equivalent)

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

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 "trade"):

black market; run (deal in illegally, such as arms or liquor)

traffic (trade or deal a commodity)

arbitrage (practice arbitrage, as in the stock market)

traffic (deal illegally)

market (engage in the commercial promotion, sale, or distribution of)

import (bring in from abroad)

export (sell or transfer abroad)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

trade (the commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or international markets) of goods and services)

trade (a particular instance of buying or selling)

trader (someone who purchases and maintains an inventory of goods to be sold)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Be traded at a certain price or under certain conditions

Example:

The stock traded around $20 a share

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

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

sell (be sold at a certain price or in a certain way)

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 "trade"):

close (be priced or listed when trading stops)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

trade (the commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or international markets) of goods and services)

trade (a particular instance of buying or selling)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Grey Beaver was busy trading and getting wealthy.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Did not you hear me ask him about the slave-trade last night?

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I had fifty hands onboard; and my orders were, that I should trade with the Indians in the South-Sea, and make what discoveries I could.

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

The Netherfield ladies would have had difficulty in believing that a man who lived by trade, and within view of his own warehouses, could have been so well-bred and agreeable.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

“I’m a smith by trade, and I’ve not put on half a stone in fifteen years.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They found that trading just 9 per cent of the fish caught annually in Namibia locally would solve the country’s iron deficiency problems.

(Fairer fish trade could fix nutrient deficiencies in coastal countries, SciDev.Net)

He is a professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas.

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

These areas have high potential yields, low production costs, high prices for the produce and have market accessibility to trade centres such as cities.

(Most countries lose out with forest-to-farm conversions, SciDev.Net)

Certainly, among my many new trades, I shone least as a sail-maker.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Walrus ivory was once a luxury in high demand and was widely traded in the Viking Age and across Medieval Europe.

(Extinction of Icelandic walrus coincides with Norse settlement, National Science Foundation)