offer
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Present for acceptance or rejection.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
awferSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɔfɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Present for acceptance or rejection
“She offered us all a cold drink.”
transitive
To present in words; to proffer; to make a proposal of; to suggest.
transitive
To present (something) for sale.
transitive
To place at someone's disposal; to present (something) to be either accepted or turned down.
Make available for sale
“The stores are offering specials on sweaters this week.”
Propose a payment
“The Swiss dealer offered $2 million for the painting.”
noun
A proposal that has been made.
Something put forth, bid, proffered or tendered.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Present for acceptance or rejection
Used this way, offer is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“She offered us all a cold drink.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- volunteer , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Presentverb
“She offered us all a cold drink.”
Makeverb
“The stores are offering specials on sweaters this week.”
Proposeverb
“The Swiss dealer offered $2 million for the painting.”
More ways to use offer
- “The Swiss dealer offered $2 million for the painting.”verb
- “The Shakespeare Company is offering `King Lear' this month.”verb
- “She offered us all a cold drink.”verb
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Something offered (as a proposal or bid).
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Someone who presents something to another for acceptance or rejection.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Present as an act of worship.
The price at which a broker is willing to sell a certain security.
Something offered to an adversary in the hope of obtaining peace.
The act of offering the bread and wine of the Eucharist.
An offering of common stock to existing shareholders who hold subscription rights or pre-emptive rights that entitle them to buy newly issued shares at a discount from the price at which…
An offer to buy shares in a corporation (usually above the market price) for cash or securities or both.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.