retail
noun · adjective · verb · adverb
Simple meaning
Selling goods directly to customers, often in stores or online
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
reetaylSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹiteɪl
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.
noun
business
The sale of goods directly to the consumer, encompassing the storefronts, mail-order, websites, etc., and the corporate mechanisms, branding, advertising, etc. that support them.
colloquial
Retail price; full price; an abbreviated expression, meaning the full suggested price of a particular good or service, before any sale, discount, or other deal.
adjective
Of or relating to the (actual or figurative) sale of goods or services directly to individuals.
verb
To repeat or circulate (news or rumours) to others.
Sell on the retail market
To sell at retail, or in small quantities directly to customers.
adverb
At a retail price
Direct to consumers, in retail quantities, or at retail prices.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The sale of goods directly to the consumer, encompassing the storefronts, mail-order, websites, etc., and the corporate mechanisms, branding, advertising, etc. that support them.
Used this way, retail is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in business or professional contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Business/professional
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.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A merchant who sells goods at retail.
The activities involved in selling commodities directly to consumers.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A place of business for retailing goods.
An index of changes in retail prices.
A chain of retail stores.
A merchant who sells goods at retail.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- merchandisenoun
- retailernoun
- shoppingnoun
- salesnoun
- supermarketnoun
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: of or relating to the (actual
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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.