barter

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verb

bar·ter ˈbär-tər

bartered; bartering; barters

Synonyms of barter next

intransitive verb

: to trade by exchanging one commodity for another : to trade goods or services in exchange for other goods or services

farmers bartering for supplies with their crops

bartered with the store's owner

transitive verb

: to trade or exchange by or as if by bartering

bartering work for food

barterer

ˈbär-tər-ər

noun

barter

2 of 2

noun

: the act or practice of trading goods or services for other goods or services : the act or practice of carrying on trade by bartering

: goods or services that are traded for other goods or services : the thing given in exchange in bartering

Example Sentences

Noun The tribes use a system of barter. The explorers used blankets and other supplies for barter to get food from the native people.

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Fortunately for them, Clyburn, who is 82 and was recently reelected to his 16th term, had long ago made peace with the art of bartering. —

Marilyn W. Thompson, ProPublica, 5 May 2023 But gone are the days when American officials thought that the arsenal was a bargaining chip, something to be bartered away for trade deals, or for the string of hotels that Mr. Trump said America would help build on the North Korean beaches. —

Choe Sang-hun, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2023 In April 1967, a military regime known as the Greek junta (or Regime of the Colonels) led a coup; the junta arrested Papandreou, and the king bartered an agreement with the group by recognizing their government. —

Catherine Santino, Peoplemag, 5 May 2023 Worse, not only did San Francisco pass on the same studs the Jets did, the Niners bartered three first-rounders to get into position for Lance. —

Nate Davis, USA TODAY, 20 Apr. 2023 Time to barter? ... —

Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 16 Oct. 2020 The craft originated with women, kept indoors by the harsh weather, who knitted patterned sweaters for their seafaring husbands — who, in turn, often bartered them for necessities along the trade route, thus introducing the world to this unique style. —

Deborah Needleman, Travel + Leisure, 16 Mar. 2023 Prizes are nontransferable, and Event tickets may not be sold, bartered, or exchanged. —

Billboard, 10 Mar. 2023 When Western merchandise trickled in through back channels, children would trade the vibrant candy wrappers and barter the broken nibs of colored pencils. —

New York Times, 12 Nov. 2021

Noun

Some of them were even apparent barter deals with individual Chinese companies for stakes in DRC’s copper, gold, and cobalt mines. —

Faustine Ngila, Quartz, 10 Apr. 2023 So the piece about barter is really to refute this kind of standard historical story of money. —

IEEE Spectrum, 13 Oct. 2020 Klaus Teuber, a former dental technician in Germany who began designing board games as an after-work hobby before creating the hugely popular realm of Catan, where players compete, cooperate and barter to build settlements on a fictional island, died April 1 at 70. —

Brian Murphy, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2023 Shortly after news dropped of Rogozin’s departure, Roscosmos announced a seat barter agreement with NASA that paves the way for NASA astronauts to ride on Russian spacecraft, and vice versa, to and from the International Space Station, according to Reuters. —

Derek Saul, Forbes, 15 July 2022 The evolution from barter to money is an old story in economics, repeated down the centuries in one form or another, to the point that even children are aware of it. —

John Patrick Leary, The New Republic, 6 Aug. 2021 Washington was forced to abandon its cover story (that Powers had been on a weather reconnaissance mission and had drifted into Soviet airspace after blacking out from oxygen depletion), admit the spy plane program, and barter for Powers to be returned in a prisoner swap. —

Brad Lendon, CNN, 10 Mar. 2023 But Tyler Duffey, a plausible candidate to inherit a ninth-inning role in a bullpen scrambled by injury and barter, surrendered three hits, including a bases-clearing double, and the Twins began a nine-game road trip with their third loss in a row, losing 5-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals. —

Phil Miller, Star Tribune, 30 July 2021 This exchange will be done via barter. —

Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 23 Nov. 2022 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'barter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.