price index

noun

: an index number expressing the level of a group of commodity prices relative to the level of the prices of the same commodities during an arbitrarily chosen base period and used to indicate changes in the level of prices from one period to another

Examples of price index in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Fed does look to strip out the direct impact of oil by focusing on the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, which excludes food and energy due to their inherent volatility. —Zev Fima, CNBC, 21 Apr. 2026

These are measured with price indexes. —Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 19 Apr. 2026

Economists also watch it because some of its components, notably measures of health care and financial services, flow into the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge — the personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, price index. —Paul Wiseman, Los Angeles Times, 14 Apr. 2026

Excluding food and energy prices, which tend to be quite volatile, the core PCE price index also rose 0.4%, bringing the annual rate to 3% from 2.9% the month before. —Alicia Wallace, CNN Money, 9 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1886, in the meaning defined above