fire-sale

1 of 2

adjective

: heavily discounted
fire-sale prices

fire sale

2 of 2

noun

: a sale of merchandise damaged in a fire
also : a sale at very low prices

Examples of fire-sale in a Sentence

Noun The company is having a fire sale of its old office equipment.
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
But the Great Financial Crisis sent the finance arm reeling, and in 2015, Immelt sold its assets at fire-sale prices to such buyers as Wells Fargo and Blackstone. Shawn Tully, Fortune, 26 Jan. 2024 As a result of the unintended consequences of U.S. and European actions in financial markets, there is now the possibility that, even with this latest bailout, China could buy such sensitive assets from Europe, at fire-sale prices. Mark Blyth, Foreign Affairs, 25 July 2011 Luckily the dealer examined his haul and passed the canvases on to a second-hand book dealer, who sold them on to artists, experts and dealers at fire-sale prices. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2023 Smaller operators have already begun shutting down stores or selling at fire-sale prices. Mike Rogoway, Anchorage Daily News, 16 July 2023 With savvy and sass, Murphy’s narration traces his 13 months in the industrial hemp business from the initial purchase of a 36-acre farm in Boulder County, Colo., to the dispersal of a lot of expensive equipment at fire-sale prices. Wendy Smith, BostonGlobe.com, 15 June 2023 Hefty taxes, inflation and regulatory costs weigh on bottom lines, and a glut pushed wholesale prices to fire-sale levels. Gene Johnson, Fortune, 19 Apr. 2023 How the merger, with a fire-sale price of 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.25 billion), will play out and its impact on worldwide finance are largely unknown. Jamey Keaten and Courtney Bonnell, BostonGlobe.com, 22 Mar. 2023 Investment bankers and private equity executives will have a bonanza acquiring distressed assets from failing banks and acquiring ailing financial institutions and fire-sale prices. Jack Kelly, Forbes, 16 Mar. 2023
Noun
Relegation would prompt a fire sale of players and almost certainly lead to administration, a form of bankruptcy protection. Tariq Panja, New York Times, 26 Feb. 2024 That raised the specter of possible fire sales of Trump Tower, a Wall Street skyscraper and other properties. Bernard Condon, Fortune, 17 Feb. 2024 While some high-profile unicorns of a decade ago have suffered a disappointing fate, from fire sales to public listings flops to smaller private valuations, overall the value of the original cohort held up. Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 19 Jan. 2024 With names like Sunset and Simple Closure, these startup undertakers arrange fire sales of furniture, file final taxes and carry out other mundane work to wind down businesses. Yuliya Chernova, WSJ, 14 Dec. 2023 At Credit Suisse’s last-ever annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday, senior leaders apologized for failings that led to the Swiss bank’s fire sale last month to its archrival, UBS, at the behest of the Swiss government. Michael J. De La Merced, BostonGlobe.com, 4 Apr. 2023 But Fortune has learned that that three of the seven lenders that funded Musk’s deal to buy Twitter may have formed a group designed to protect themselves from the chaos that would be associated with a fire sale, according to a source familiar with the deal. Shawn Tully, Fortune, 6 Oct. 2023 Plus, what to do when locked out of your Facebook account, get weather alerts on your phone, Twitter's office supply fire sale, and how a new gift card scam steals your cash with barcode stickers. Kim Komando, USA TODAY, 12 Jan. 2023 The bottom line for shoppers: Expect more deals but don’t hold out for fire sales. Time, 27 Aug. 2023

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

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1953, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1830, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of fire-sale was in 1830

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Dictionary Entries Near fire-sale

Cite this Entry

“Fire-sale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fire-sale. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

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