Meanings
nounauction (plural auctions)
plural auctions
- A public event where goods or property are sold to the highest bidder.
1 more example
Auctions come in a wide variety. In a “Dutch auction”, often used to sell flowers and fruit, prices start high and gradually drop until a bidder is willing to pay up. A “Japanese auction” is a bit like poker: bids rise with each round and anyone who wants to win must bid every time. Vendors using auctions rid themselves of the headache of choosing prices and instead just pick the rules bidders must follow.
2014 July 12, “Competition, hammered”, in The Economist, volume 412, number 8895Synonyms: roup sale
- bridgeThe first stage of a deal, in which players bid to determine the final contract.
verbauction (third-person singular simple present auctions, present participle auctioning, simple past and past participle auctioned)
present singular third person auctions · participle present auctioning · participle past auctioned · past auctioned
- transitiveTo sell at an auction.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA public event where goods or property are sold to the highest bidder.
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
nouna variety of bridge in which tricks made in excess of the contract are scored toward game; now generally superseded by contract bridge
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Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinauctiō“an increase, auction”
- Englishauction
From Latin auctiō (“an increase, auction”), from augere (“to increase”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἀποκηρύσσω
- ἀποκηρύσσω (apokērússō)to sell at an auction
Arabic مَزَاد, مُزَايَدَة
- مَزَاد (mazād)public sales event
- مُزَايَدَة (muzāyada)public sales event
Bengali নিলাম
- নিলাম (nilam)public sales event
Bulgarian търг, аукцио́н
- търг (tărg)public sales event
- аукцио́н (aukción)public sales event
- продавам на търг (prodavam na tărg)to sell at an auction
Catalan subhasta, subhastar
- subhastapublic sales event
- subhastarto sell at an auction
Chinese Mandarin 拍賣 /拍卖, 競賣 /竞卖
- 拍賣 /拍卖 (pāimài)public sales event
- 競賣 /竞卖 (jìngmài)public sales event
- 競拍 /竞拍 (jìngpāi)public sales event
- 拍賣 /拍卖 (pāimài)to sell at an auction
Czech aukce, dražba
- aukcepublic sales event
- dražbapublic sales event
- dražitto sell at an auction
- licitovatto sell at an auction
Danish auktion
- auktionpublic sales event
Dutch veiling, veilen
- veilingpublic sales event
- veilento sell at an auction
Esperanto aŭkcio
- aŭkciopublic sales event
Estonian oksjon, enampakkumine
- oksjonpublic sales event
- enampakkuminepublic sales event
Finnish huutokauppa, myydä huutokaupassa
- huutokauppapublic sales event
- myydä huutokaupassato sell at an auction
- huutokaupatato sell at an auction
French enchères, vente aux enchères
- enchèrespublic sales event
- vente aux enchèrespublic sales event
- vente aux enchèresto sell at an auction
German Versteigerung, Auktion
- Versteigerungpublic sales event
- Auktionpublic sales event
- versteigernto sell at an auction
Greek δημοπρασία, πλειστηριασμός
- δημοπρασία (dimoprasía)public sales event
- πλειστηριασμός (pleistiriasmós)public sales event
- πλειστηριάζω (pleistiriázo)to sell at an auction
Hebrew מכירה פומבית \ מְכִירָה פֻּמְבִּית
- מכירה פומבית \ מְכִירָה פֻּמְבִּית (m'khirá pumbít)public sales event
Hindi नीलामी, नीलाम
- नीलामी (nīlāmī)public sales event
- नीलाम (nīlām)public sales event
Hungarian árverés, aukció
- árveréspublic sales event
- aukciópublic sales event
Icelandic uppboð
- uppboðpublic sales event
Indonesian lelang
- lelangpublic sales event
Irish ceant, ceantáil
- ceantpublic sales event
- ceantáilpublic sales event
- cuir ar ceantto sell at an auction
- cuir ceant arto sell at an auction
- ceantáilto sell at an auction
Italian asta, vendere all'asta
- astapublic sales event
- vendere all'astato sell at an auction
- mettere all'astato sell at an auction
Japanese 競売, 競り売り
- 競売public sales event
- 競り売り (seriuri)public sales event
- 競売り (seriuri)public sales event
- 競 (seri)public sales event
- オークション (ōkushon)public sales event
- 競売する (kyōbai suru)to sell at an auction
- 競りにかける (seri ni kakeru)to sell at an auction
Korean 경매, 옥션
- 경매 (gyeongmae)public sales event
- 옥션 (oksyeon)public sales event
- 경매하다 (gyeongmaehada)to sell at an auction
Latin auctiō, praeco
- auctiōpublic sales event
- praecoto sell at an auction
Latvian ūtrupe, izsole
- ūtrupepublic sales event
- izsolepublic sales event
Lithuanian aukcionas
- aukcionaspublic sales event
Malay lelong, melelong
- lelongpublic sales event
- melelongto sell at an auction
Māori mākete, mākete
- māketepublic sales event
- māketeto sell at an auction
Norwegian Bokmål auksjon
- auksjonpublic sales event
Persian مزایده
- مزایده (mozâyede)to sell at an auction
Polish aukcja, licytacja
- aukcjapublic sales event
- licytacjapublic sales event
- aukcjonowaćto sell at an auction
Portuguese leilão, leiloar
- leilãopublic sales event
- leiloarto sell at an auction
Romanian licitație
- licitațiepublic sales event
Russian аукцио́н, продава́ть с аукцио́на
- аукцио́н (aukción)public sales event
- продава́ть с аукцио́на (prodavátʹ s aukcióna)to sell at an auction
- продава́ть с молотка́ (prodavátʹ s molotká)to sell at an auction
Slovak dražba
- dražbapublic sales event
Spanish subasta, remate
- subastapublic sales event
- rematepublic sales event
- almonedapublic sales event
- aucciónpublic sales event
- licitaciónpublic sales event
- subastarto sell at an auction
- rematarto sell at an auction
- licitarto sell at an auction
Swahili mnada
- mnadapublic sales event
Swedish auktion, auktionera
- auktionpublic sales event
- auktionerato sell at an auction
Tagalog pasalukan, amboy
- pasalukanpublic sales event
- amboypublic sales event
Tamil ஏலம்
- ஏலம் (ēlam)public sales event
Thai ขายทอดตลาด, การประมูล
- ขายทอดตลาด (kǎai-tɔ̂ɔt-dtà-làat)public sales event
- การประมูล (gaan-bprà-muun)public sales event
Turkish açık arttırma, müzayede
- açık arttırmapublic sales event
- müzayedepublic sales event
- mezatpublic sales event
- açık artırmato sell at an auction
- müzayedeto sell at an auction
Ukrainian аукціо́н
- аукціо́н (aukción)public sales event
Urdu نِیلامی, نِیلام
- نِیلامی (nīlāmī)public sales event
- نِیلام (nīlām)public sales event
Vietnamese bán đấu giá, đấu giá
- bán đấu giápublic sales event
- đấu giápublic sales event
- bán đấu giáto sell at an auction
Welsh arwerthiant
- arwerthiantpublic sales event
Yiddish ליציטאַציע
- ליציטאַציע (litsitatsye)public sales event
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with auction
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
auction. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/auction
MLA
“auction.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/auction. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “auction,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/auction.
Source: auction on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.