sale noun

1 act of selling

ADJ. quick The price is low to ensure a quick sale. | major, massive a major sale of paintings the massive sale of foreign currency reserves | illegal the illegal sale of alcohol | auction, bring-and-buy, car-boot, garage, jumble, tabletop | house, share, etc.

VERB + SALE ban, block, halt, prevent, prohibit, stop | close, make Closing the sale means that you ask the buyer to say yes or no. | hold A sale of paintings will be held at the Town Hall on Saturday.

SALE + VERB make sth, realize sth, total sth The jumble sale made £358 for cancer research. The sale of paintings totalled £250,000. | go ahead/through, proceed | fall through The sale of the house fell through when the buyer pulled out.

SALE + NOUN agreement, contract | price | proceeds to maximize the sale proceeds

PREP. for ~ I see they've put their house up for sale. | on ~ The new stamps are now on sale at main post offices.

PHRASES conditions of sale The conditions of sale were posted up around the auction room. | a contract of sale, on open sale Drugs were on open sale in the club. | the proceeds/profits from a sale All proceeds from the sale of the book will go to charity. | (on) sale or return The novels are delivered to newspaper shops and other outlets on a sale or return basis.

2 sales: amount sold

ADJ. good, healthy, high, huge, massive, strong | increased | poor | annual, quarterly, etc. | direct, retail, telephone Direct sales, by mail order, were up by 15%. | domestic | export, foreign, international, overseas | global, overall, total, world, worldwide | gross, net | unit, volume | high-street High-street sales have fallen for the fifth consecutive month. | arms, car, house, land, ticket, etc.

QUANT. level, value, volume The high volume of sales makes the low pricing policy profitable.

VERB + SALE achieve, have | generate The advertising campaign generated massive sales. | boost

SALE + VERB account for sth North American sales account for 40% of the worldwide market. | amount to sth, reach sth sales amounting to over £4 million Sales failed to reach 10,000 units. | exceed sth | be/go up, grow, improve, increase, rise, rocket, skyrocket, soar Sales of ice cream are up because of the hot weather. | be/go down, decline, drop, fall, slump

SALE + NOUN force, people, personnel, staff, team | department, office | director, manager, rep/representative | campaign, drive, effort, promotion | estimates, figures, levels, performance, revenue, targets, volume | growth | slump The car manufacturer was forced to shed jobs following a dramatic sales slump. | conference | presentation | report | tax | contract | patter, pitch, talk an aggressive sales pitch from the company rep

PHRASES a decline/drop/fall/slowdown/slump in sales, a growth/an increase/a jump/a rise/a surge/an upturn in sales, sales and marketing > Note at PERCENT (for more verbs)> Special page at BUSINESS

3 period of reduced prices

ADJ. annual, summer, winter, etc. | clothing, furniture, etc. | clearance, closing-down

PREP. at/in the ~s I bought it at the winter sales.

You can also check other dicts: sale (English, 中文解释 ), wordnet sense, Collins Definition

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