price

price¹ W1S1 [praıs] n

[Date: 1200-1300; : Old French; Origin: pris, from Latin pretium 'price, money']

1.) [U and C]

the amount of money you have to pay for something

▪ People are prepared to pay high prices for designer clothes.

price of

▪ The price of fuel keeps going up .

▪ House prices in this area are falling .

▪ Oil prices fluctuated significantly during October.

▪ fears of massive electricity price increases

▪ a sharp rise in food prices

▪ a drop in the price of coal

▪ They have cut the price of their products by almost 30 per cent.

price for

▪ We agreed on a price for the bike.

▪ Tesco is selling two bottles of champagne for the price of one !

see usage note ↑cost¹

→↑asking price, ↑cost price, ↑list price, ↑market price

2.) [singular]

the unpleasant things that you must suffer in order to be successful, free etc

price 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.

▪ She was finally made senior executive, but at what price !

3.) half/full price

used to talk about half the usual price of something, or the actual usual price

▪ I bought these jeans at half price in the sale.

4.) at a price

for a lot of money

▪ You can get goat's cheese at the local delicatessen - at a price!

5.) at any price

whatever the cost and difficulties may be

▪ She was determined to have a child at any price.

6.) not at any price

used to say that you would not do something, even for a lot of money

▪ Sorry, that painting's not for sale at any price.

7.) put a price on sth

to give something a financial value

▪ You can't put a price on what a mother does for her children.

8.) What price fame/glory etc?

usually spoken used to suggest that something was not worth achieving because too many bad things have happened as a result

▪ What price progress?

9.) be beyond price

to be extremely valuable or important

10.) price on sb's head

a reward for catching or killing someone

11.) everyone has their price

used to say that you can persuade people to do anything if you give them what they want

→cheap at the price at ↑cheap¹ (8)

→name your price at ↑name² (7)

→pay the price at ↑pay¹ (9)

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COLLOCATES for sense 1

high/low price

prices go up/rise/increase/soar

prices go down/fall/drop

prices fluctuate (=prices go up and down)

a price rise/increase

a reduction/fall/drop in prices

put up/increase/raise prices

cut/lower/slash prices (=make them lower)

agree (on) a price/fix a price

price freeze (=when prices are kept at the same level)

price war (=when shops try to have the lowest prices)

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price ²

price² v [T]

1.) [usually in passive]

to decide the price of something that is for sale

▪ a reasonably priced apartment

be priced at sth

▪ Tickets are priced at £75 each.

2.) to put the price on goods to show how much they cost

3.) to compare the prices of things

▪ We spent Saturday morning pricing microwaves.

4.) price yourself out of the market

to demand too much money for the services or goods that you are selling