From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpriceprice1 /praɪs/ ●●● S1 W1 noun 1 [countable, uncountable]BBTCOST the amount of money you have to pay for somethingprice of The price of fuel keeps going up.price for We agreed a price for the bike. Supermarkets often offer you two products for the price of one. → asking price, cost price, list price, market price► see thesaurus at cost2 UNPLEASANT[singular] something unpleasant that you must suffer in order to be successful, free etc, or that you suffer because of a mistake or bad actionprice of He’s never at home, but that’s the price of success. The awful boat journey was a small price to pay for freedom. They may pay a high price for their few years of glory. The country will pay a heavy price for the government’s failure. She was finally made senior executive, but at what price!3 → half/full price4 → at a price5 → at any price6 → not at any price7 → put a price on something8 → What price fame/glory etc?9 → be beyond price10 → price on somebody’s head11 → everyone has their price → cheap at the price at cheap1(8), → name your price at name2(7), → pay the price at pay1(9)COLLOCATIONS – Meaning 1: the amount of money you have to pay for somethingADJECTIVES/NOUN + pricehighHouse prices in the UK are very high.lowWith such low prices, there are lots of eager buyers.reasonable (=not too high)The price was reasonable for such good food.fairI am sure we can agree on a fair price.astronomical (=extremely high)Many fans paid astronomical prices for their tickets.exorbitant/extortionate (=much too high)£10,000 seemed an exorbitant price for the rug.inflated (=higher than is usual or reasonable)People seem willing to pay inflated prices for houses in central London.house/food/oil etc pricesA poor harvest led to higher food prices.a good price (=quite high)Did you get a good price for your car?a bargain price (also a knockdown/giveaway price) (=much lower than usual)We sell quality cars at bargain prices.The house is available at a knockdown price of $195,000.the market price (=the price of something on a market at a particular time)We think the stock’s current market price is too high.the asking price (=the amount of money that someone is asking for when they are selling something, especially a house)The property is worth more than the asking price.the purchase price formal (=the price that someone pays when they buy something, especially a house)You can obtain a loan for up to 90% of the purchase price.the retail price (=the price that the public pays for something in a shop)Tax is 40% of the retail price of a typical bottle of wine.the wholesale price (=the price that a business such as a shop pays to buy something)Wholesale coffee prices have fallen.verbsa price goes up/rises/increasesWhen supplies go down, prices tend to go up.a price goes down/falls/decreasesIn real terms, the price of clothes has fallen over the last ten years.a price shoots up/soars/rockets (=increases quickly by a large amount)The price of oil soared in the 1970s.prices fluctuate (=keep going up and down)Gas prices have continued to fluctuate in recent months.prices start from £200/$300 etcTicket prices start from £39.00.prices range from £30 to £65 etcOver 1,000 paintings will be shown with prices ranging from £50 to £5,000.put up/increase/raise a priceManufacturers have had to put their prices up.cut/lower/reduce a priceThe company recently cut the price of its best-selling car.slash a price (=reduce it by a very large amount)Many carpet stores have slashed prices to bring in customers.fix a price (=decide on it, sometimes illegally with others)Publishers are not permitted to fix prices with one another.agree on a priceNow all we need to do is agree on a price.pay a good/low etc priceI paid a very reasonable price for my guitar.get a good/reasonable etc price (=be paid a particular amount for something)Farmers now get a decent price for their crop.fetch a good/high etc price British English, bring a good, high etc price American English (=be sold for a particular amount of money)I’m sure the painting would fetch a good price in London.price + NOUNa price rise/increaseConsumers are facing more fuel price rises.a price cut/reductionHoliday sales were down, even with drastic price cuts.a price freeze (=when prices are kept at the same level by a company or by the government)A price freeze on nine basic goods was announced on June 14.PHRASESa fall/drop in pricesPoor demand led to a sharp drop in prices.a rise in pricesThe sharp rise in wholesale food prices will have to be passed onto customers.in/outside somebody’s price range (=used when saying that someone can/cannot afford to pay for something)Unfortunately, there was nothing in our price range.COMMON ERRORS ► Don’t say ‘a convenient price’. Say a reasonable price or a fair price. THESAURUSprice noun [countable] the amount of money that you have to pay for somethingThe prices in that shop are rather high.You can have a two-course meal for a special price of £9.95.cost noun [countable] the amount of money that you have to pay for services, activities, or things you need such as food and electricityThe cost of the two-day course is $1,295.Many banks are raising their borrowing costs.a sudden increase in energy costsvalue noun [countable, uncountable] the amount of money that something is worth and that people are willing to pay if it is soldThe value of the painting was estimated at £500,000.Fine wines may increase in value.The shares have gone down in value. COLLOCATIONS – Meaning 2: something unpleasant that you must suffer in order to be successful, free etc, or that you suffer because of a mistake or bad actionverbspay a price (=suffer)We paid a heavy price for our mistakes this season.come at a price (also come at a high price) (=involve suffering or a bad result)She won fame, but it came at a high price.exact a price formal (=make someone suffer)The success of the nation’s businesses has exacted a dreadful price from the people.adjectivesa high priceSmokers often pay a high price in terms of their health.a heavy priceAny country breaking international law will be made to pay a heavy price.a terrible priceThe sport can exact a terrible price from its participants.phrasessomething is a small price to pay (=something is worth suffering in order to achieve something more important)Changing his job would be a small price to pay to keep his marriage intact.
Examples from the Corpus
price• The threat of a price war led to plunging shares for all the major players in the market.• The asking price for the 60-acre estate in Atlanta is $27 million.• Brand A is available, price £x, from the following chains.• Apple was forced to cut prices sharply, reducing its profit margin.• But that could cause another problem: If enough farmers pile into grain, it might cause an oversupply and depress prices.• Experts say they expect price rises to be gradual but persistent.• House prices are beginning to fall again.• House prices rose by around 12% in the south-east last year.• There's a great new clothes store on Main Street, and its prices seem very reasonable.• Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said it was impossible to build a good computer for such a low price.• The Japanese have raised prices just $8 a vehicle on average.• He told them to put their pushers out to undercut Huey's prices.• Payment at today's price may be by a single lump sum or by instalments.• They charge the same price for a takeaway as they do for eating in the restaurant.• Has the price of heart surgery gone up in the last five hundred years?• Just sick over the prices in shops selling the 1960s furniture you finally convinced your parents to throw out?• What's the price of a pack of cigarettes nowadays?price of• He's very busy, but I guess that's the price of success.• the price of goldat what price• They decided how much of their services the customers needed and at what price.• The invisible hand influences what prod-ucts will be produced and at what price.• It remains to be seen whether or not Novell would acquire all of AT&T's remaining stock and at what price.• The only questions are by whom and at what price.• The question then arises, at what price should a Treasury bill be sold on a given day?• With that type of talent, obviously you would be interested but at what price?• She's gotten the job she wanted, but at what price?• He may win, but at what price?• The question was whether part of the floor area should be included and if so at what price. priceprice2 ●●○ verb [transitive] 1 BBTto decide the price of something that is for sale a reasonably priced apartmentbe priced at something Tickets are priced at £75 each.Grammar Price is usually passive in this meaning.2 BBTCOSTto put the price on goods to show how much they cost3 COMPAREto compare the prices of things We spent Saturday morning pricing microwaves.4 → price yourself out of the marketCOLLOCATIONSadverbshighly priced (=expensive)The clothes shops all seemed to be full of highly priced designer clothes.reasonably priced (=not too expensive)The food was good and reasonably priced.moderately priced (=not expensive)On the outskirts of many towns, you will find moderately priced motels.competitively/keenly priced (=not expensive compared with similar things)Lower costs meant that Japanese exports remained competitively priced.modestly priced (=cheap)There are some very modestly priced artificial plants to be had.attractively priced (=not expensive)These figurines are attractively priced at £32. → See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
price• Porsche said its new 911 Carrera 4s would be very competitively priced.• These shoes are pretty reasonably priced.• For weekend breaks only, the Holiday Inn Hotel is also priced at this grade even though it is a 5 star hotel.• Please get your fruit and vegetables weighed and priced before you take them to the checkout.• It was this that suggested that there had been pricing errors which lead to the suspension of the trusts.• Unsurprisingly, supermarkets are the loudest advocates of free pricing, followed closely by mass booksellers.• Specials are items that are priced less than their regular price for a period of time, perhaps only one day.• In Chapter 6 the variant known as the arbitrage pricing model will be presented.• The debentures were priced to yield 25 basis points more than comparable U. S. Treasury notes.• The notes, which are noncallable for one year, were priced to yield 69 basis points above comparable Treasurys.• I've been pricing VCRs.be priced at something• Mr Fothergill's 1991 seed catalogue includes a fully functional model which has a traditional iron wheel and is priced at £179.• Tickets are expected to be priced at $ 29.95 for adults and $ 19.95 for children ages 4 to 13.• Two-day advance ticket packages for Friday and Saturday are priced at $ 44.• A svelte-looking black velvet off-the-shoulder number, with ostrich feather trim, was priced at £59.99.• The flat is priced at £69,950, which Gary Herman thinks may be a little high.• The debt, which is noncallable, was priced at a spread of 55 basis points above Treasurys.• The debentures, which are noncallable, were priced at a spread of 75 basis points to comparable Treasurys.• This provides a useful service for the retailer, since the goods then do not have to be priced at the shop.From Longman Business Dictionarypriceprice1 /praɪs/ noun1[countable, uncountable]FINANCE the amount of money for which something is bought, sold, or offeredThey agreed on a price of $10,000 for the car.Some mines may close because of gold’s current low price.The bonds continued to fall in price.Buy one shirt and get a second at half price.People today are attracted to discount stores because they don’t want to pay full price. → see also cut-price2at a price used to say that you can obtain something, but only if you pay a lot of money for it, or if the cost is very high in other unpleasant waysThe track was designed to allow higher train speeds at a price, and that price was safety.3at any price if you are prepared to do something at any price, you are determined to do it, even if it is very difficult and the cost is very highThe government is prepared to hang onto power at any price.Sorry, that painting’s not for sale, not at any price (=no price could be high enough).4put a price on something to say how much something costs, or to give something a financial valueThe government hasn’t put a price on the stake it wants to sell.priceprice2 verb [transitive]1to fix the price of something that is for salebe priced atIf the stock is priced at about C$24 a share, it probably will be well received by the market.She priced her T-shirts at $22 only to find a competitor moving faster at $20.Today’s moderately priced clothes look almost as good as high priced designer clothes.2to fix the price of bonds, shares etcThe notes were priced to yield 6.88%.price offMany commercial loans are priced off (=in relation to) Fed funds, which currently are around 4%.3to compare the prices of thingsWe spent the morning pricing microwaves.4to put the price on goods, showing how much they cost5price somebody out of the marketCOMMERCE if you have been priced out of the market, you can no longer afford to buy something because prices have become too highYounger people with jobs need homes but they have been priced out of the housing market.6price yourself out of the marketCOMMERCE to demand too much money for the goods or services you are offering, so that people are no longer willing to buy themThe hotels have priced themselves out of the market with typical cost at one chain of $100 to $120 a night compared with our average room cost of $50.→ See Verb tableOrigin price1 (1200-1300) Old French pris, from Latin pretium “price, money” 