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

House Charlotte offers qualified first-time homebuyers several loan options that provide up to $80,000 in assistance for down payment, closing costs and interest rate buy-downs. —Desiree Mathurin, Charlotte Observer, 9 Sep. 2025

In fact, the average down payment was 18% for all home buyers in 2024, and just 9% for first-time home buyers, according to the National Association of Realtors. —Jessica Dickler, CNBC, 8 Sep. 2025

Yet several still managed to put on a stylish show with their luggage — luxurious, high-end bags and suitcases, some as pricey as a down payment on a car. —Kansas City Star, 5 Sep. 2025

As young buyers scrape together down payments, boomers are sitting on $82 trillion in wealth—more than twice what Gen X has and four times as much as millennials. —Jessica Coacci, Fortune, 3 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1854, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for down payment

• copayment
• embayment
• nonpayment
• prepayment
• repayment
• claimant
• overpayment
• underpayment

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