trade

1 of 2

verb

traded; trading

intransitive verb

1

: to give one thing in exchange for another

2

a

: to engage in the exchange, purchase, or sale of goods

b

: to make one's purchases : shop

trades at his store

3

: sell sense 3

4

obsolete : to have dealings : negotiate

transitive verb

1

a

: to give in exchange for another commodity : barter

also : to make an exchange of

traded places

b

: to engage in frequent buying and selling of (stocks, commodities, etc.) usually in search of quick profits

2

archaic : to do business with

tradable adjective

or less commonly tradeable

ˈtrā-də-bəl 

see also:

trade on

tradable

2 of 2

adjective

trad·​able

variants or less commonly tradeable

ˈtrādəbəl 

: that can be traded

Synonyms of trade

Verb

• deal
• sell

Examples of trade in a Sentence

Verb

If you don't like your seat, I'll trade with you.

I traded seats with her halfway through the show.

He was traded to the Yankees.

They traded him to the Broncos.

I traded my pen for a pencil and kept writing.

Their firm specializes in trading bonds.

She mostly trades in stocks.

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Twenty-year-old Steven Zhang trades mostly on Kalshi mention markets, which allow users to bet on whether someone will say a specific word or phrase during an event. —Mary Cunningham, CBS News, 6 June 2026

The products, which trade under the tickers BHYP and THYP, have raised close to $150 million in assets and since launch have mostly experienced positive net inflow days, something that caught the attention of Nate Geraci, president of NovaDius Wealth Management. —Krysta Escobar, CNBC, 6 June 2026

And a nod to president of baseball operations and general manager Alex Anthopoulos for not meddling with the lineup — and having the smarts to trade for Dubón in the first place. —Ken Sugiura, AJC.com, 6 June 2026

CrowdStrike was one of the year’s strongest tech performers and traded above 100 times forward earnings late in the year, by market analyses; weaker and pricier names did not keep up. —Dara-Abasi Ita, Forbes.com, 6 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Verb

1553, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 4

Phrases Containing trade

• balance of trade
• board of trade
• by trade
• cap-and-trade
• carriage trade
• cross-trade
• do a roaring business/trade
• fair trade
• fair-trade agreement
• free trade
• horse trade
• ply for hire/business/trade
• ply one's trade
• rough trade
• slave trade
• stock-in-trade
• the rag trade
• tools of the/one's trade
• trade acceptance
• trade agreement
• trade book
• trade deficit
• trade discount
• trade dollar
• trade down
• trade edition
• trade fair
• trade gap
• trade in
• trade insults
• trade language
• trade-last
• trade name
• trade-off
• trade on
• trade places with (someone)
• trade route
• trade school
• trade secret
• trade show
• trade surplus
• trade union
• trade up
• trade wind
• trick of the/one's trade

Rhymes for trade

• aid
• aide
• bade
• blade
• braid
• clade
• dade
• fade
• flayed
• fraid
• frayed
• gade

Kids Definition

trade

1 of 3 noun

ˈtrād 

1

: the business or work in which a person takes part regularly : occupation

2

: an occupation requiring manual or mechanical skill

3

: the persons working in an occupation, business, or industry

4

: the business of buying and selling items : commerce

5

a

: an act or instance of trading : transaction

b

: an exchange of property without use of money : swap

6

: a firm's customers

7

: trade wind

—usually used in plural

trade

2 of 3 verb

traded; trading

1

a

: to give in exchange for something else

b

: to make an exchange of

traded places

2

a

: to take part in the exchange, purchase, or sale of goods

b

: to deal regularly as a customer

trade

3 of 3 adjective

: of, relating to, or used in trade

Legal Definition

trade

1 of 3 noun

1

a

: the business or work in which one engages regularly

b

: an occupation requiring manual or mechanical skill

c

: the persons engaged in an occupation

2

: the business of buying and selling or bartering commodities

3

: an act or instance of trading

also : an exchange of property usually without use of money

trade

2 of 3 verb

traded; trading

intransitive verb

1

: to engage in the exchange, purchase, or sale of goods

2

: to give one thing in exchange for another

3

: to engage in selling

transitive verb

1

: to give in exchange for another commodity

also : to make an exchange of

2

: to engage in frequent buying and selling of (as stocks or commodities) usually in search of quick profits

tradable adjective

also tradeable

trader noun

trade

3 of 3 adjective

1

: of, relating to, or used in trade or in a particular trade or business

2

also trades : of, composed of, or representing the trades or labor unions