down payment

noun

: a part of the full price paid at the time of purchase or delivery with the balance to be paid later

broadly : the first step in a process

Examples of down payment in a Sentence

She made a 10 percent down payment on the car.

We put a down payment on the house.

Recent Examples on the Web

For example, an attached condo with 20% down is priced very differently than a single-family home with the same down payment. —Jeff Lazerson, Orange County Register, 6 June 2024

This sometimes comes in the form of rent assistance, living at home for longer, or help with a down payment. —Sydney Lake, Fortune, 5 June 2024

The theme is that an older family member tells the younger recipient of a sizable down payment on a home to wait until home prices go down. —Pat Kapowich, The Mercury News, 25 May 2024

Hours after the numbers on home prices were released on Friday, China’s central bank took steps to encourage home purchases by slashing requirements on down payments. —Siyi Zhao, New York Times, 17 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1854, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

down payment

noun

: a part of the full price paid at the time of purchase or delivery with the remainder to be paid later