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purchasing

noun

Simple meaning

A complex, organized process in large organizations for obtaining goods that may include identification of requirements, approvals, supplier management, negotiation, receipt of goods.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

purchuhsing

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpɝtʃəsɪŋ

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. An act or process of making a purchase.

  2. businessgovernment

    A complex, organized process in large organizations for obtaining goods that may include identification of requirements, approvals, supplier management, negotiation, receipt of goods, and payment.

  3. The act of buying

  4. A part of an organization that manages such processes

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: An act or process of making a purchase.

Used this way, purchasing is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

purchasing powerpurchasing agentpurchasing departmentgeneral purchasingpurchasing landpurchasing manager

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • purchaseverbBase word

    Obtain by purchase.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • purchasernounPerson or profession

    A person who buys.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • purchasing agentnounCompound term

    An agent who purchases goods or services for another.

  • purchasing departmentnounCompound term

    The division of a business that is responsible for purchases.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: act or process of making a purchase

buying

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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.