repurchase

verb

re·​pur·​chase (ˌ)rē-ˈpər-chəs 

repurchased; repurchasing

transitive verb

: to buy (something) back or again

… some enterprises moving workloads to the cloud won't have to repurchase software they already own.

—Kurt Marko

especially, of a corporation : to purchase back (shares of one's own common stock) on the open market

The company last winter repaid $405 million of debt, repurchased $202 million in common stock and predicted that sales will rise between 3 and 5 percent this year.

—Jeremiah McWilliams

repurchase noun

plural repurchases

… pointed to the trend of share repurchases, or stock buybacks, emerging among major companies … . As they buy back millions, if not billions, of their shares, their supply of stock grows tighter … and their shareholders usually benefit.

—Elizabeth Gurdus

Examples of repurchase in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Things are easily misplaced, costing you more time to look for them and, potentially, money to repurchase them. —Mary Cornetta, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Oct. 2025

Shippin has repurchased this oxblood Olive & June set three times. —Bella Cacciatore, Glamour, 22 Oct. 2025

Jacobson also said the automaker will continue to repurchase shares, which the company has been aggressive about in recent years. —Michael Wayland, CNBC, 21 Oct. 2025

In September, Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress told the audience at a Goldman Sachs conference that Nvidia will repurchase stock and do strategic acquisitions where possible, but the priority is on using cash to help other companies use AI more quickly. —Bloomberg, Mercury News, 9 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1533, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing repurchase

• repurchase agreement

Rhymes for repurchase

• purchase

Legal Definition

repurchase

1 of 2 transitive verb

re·​pur·​chase

ˌrē-ˈpər-chəs

repurchased; repurchasing

: to buy back

repurchase shares of stock

repurchase

2 of 2 noun

: the act or an instance of purchasing something again or back

specifically : a corporation's buying back of some of its stock at market price (as to increase the amount of Treasury stock or as a preliminary step to going private)