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

Your rate depends on factors including your credit, down payment, loan type and lender, which means comparing offers from multiple mortgage lenders can be especially important when rates are high. — Faith Wakefield, USA Today, 16 Sep. 2026

Angel’s been working to save for a down payment on a house, but, at 33 years old, is renting an apartment. — Audrey McGlinchy, Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2026

The Yale drama school graduate had purchased a one-bedroom apartment in the building in NoHo—in a 19th-century Neo-Grec former industrial space—after a role in Nora Ephron’s movie Mixed Nuts earned him enough money for a down payment. — Ingrid Abramovitch, Architectural Digest, 10 Sep. 2026

The city’s initiatives, funded mainly by property taxes and state grants, include a down payment assistance program for first-time homebuyers. — Melanie Stetson Freeman, Christian Science Monitor, 9 Sep. 2026

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