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What is the difference between purchase and buy?

purchase | buy |

Buy is a antonym of purchase.

Buy is a synonym of purchase.



As nouns the difference between purchase and buy

is that purchase is the act or process of seeking and obtaining something (e.g. property, etc. while buy is something which is bought; a purchase.

As verbs the difference between purchase and buy

is that purchase is to pursue and obtain; to acquire by seeking; to gain, obtain, or acquire while buy is to obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods.

purchase

English

Noun

  • (obsolete) The act or process of seeking and obtaining something (e.g. property, etc.)
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • I'll get meat to have thee, / Or lose my life in the purchase .
  • An individual item one has purchased.
  • The acquisition of title to, or property in, anything for a price; buying for money or its equivalent.
  • They offer a free hamburger with the purchase of a drink.
  • That which is obtained, got or acquired, in any manner, honestly or dishonestly; property; possession; acquisition.
  • That which is obtained for a price in money or its equivalent.
  • He was pleased with his latest purchase .
  • (uncountable) Any mechanical hold or advantage, applied to the raising or removing of heavy bodies, as by a lever, a tackle or capstan.
  • It is hard to get purchase on a nail without a pry bar or hammer.
  • The apparatus, tackle or device by which such mechanical advantage is gained and in nautical terminology the ratio of such a device, like a pulley, or block and tackle.
  • (rock climbing, uncountable) The amount of hold one has from an individual foothold or ledge.
  • (legal, dated) Acquisition of lands or tenements by means other than descent or inheritance, namely, by one's own act or agreement.
  • (Blackstone)

    Derived terms

    * purchase order * repurchase

    Verb

    (purchas)
  • To pursue and obtain; to acquire by seeking; to gain, obtain, or acquire.
  • * Spenser
  • that loves the thing he cannot purchase
  • * Shakespeare
  • Your accent is something finer than you could purchase in so removed a dwelling.
  • * Shakespeare
  • His faults hereditary / Rather than purchased .
  • To buy, obtain by payment of a price in money or its equivalent.
  • to purchase''' land'', ''to '''purchase a house
  • To obtain by any outlay, as of labor, danger, or sacrifice, etc.
  • to purchase favor with flattery
  • * Shakespeare
  • One poor retiring minute / Would purchase thee a thousand thousand friends.
  • To expiate by a fine or forfeit.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Not tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses.
  • To apply to (anything) a device for obtaining a mechanical advantage; to get a purchase' upon, or apply a ' purchase to.
  • to purchase a cannon
  • To put forth effort to obtain anything; to strive; to exert oneself.
  • * Ld. Berners
  • Duke John of Brabant purchased greatly that the Earl of Flanders should have his daughter in marriage.
  • To constitute the buying power for a purchase, have a trading value.
  • ''Many aristocratic refugees' portable treasures purchased their safe passage and comfortable exile during the revolution

    Synonyms

    * (buy) procure

    Derived terms

    * purchable * purchasing agent * purchasing power

    buy

    English

    Verb

  • To obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods
  • * Benjamin Franklin
  • Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou wilt sell thy necessaries.
  • To obtain by some sacrifice.
  • * Bible, Proverbs xxiii. 23
  • Buy the truth and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
  • To bribe.
  • To be equivalent to in value.
  • (informal) to accept as true; to believe
  • To make a purchase or purchases, to treat (for a meal)
  • (poker slang) To make a bluff, usually a large one.
  • Synonyms

    * purchase * (accept as true) accept, believe, swallow (informal), take on * make a buy

    Antonyms

    * sell, vend * (accept as true) disbelieve, reject, pitch

    Derived terms

    * bring-and-buy * buyable * buyer * buy back * buy into * buy it * buy to let * buy off * buy out * buy someone off * buy someone out * buy straw hats in winter * buy the farm * buy time * buy up * can I buy you a drink * impulse buy * money can't buy happiness * outbuy * rebuy

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Something which is bought; a purchase.
  • Antonyms

    * sale

    Derived terms

    * buydown * buyout * impulse buy