Meanings
nounretail (uncountable)
- uncountablebusinessThe sale of securities or other financial instruments to private investors, as opposed to large institutions.
Mr. Musk reserved a double-digit percentage of the I.P.O. shares for “retail,” or ordinary, investors — as opposed to big institutions.
2026 June 13, Jeff Sommer, “Mega I.P.O. Frenzy Could Be a Harbinger of a Stock Bubble”, in The New York Times, →ISSN - colloquialuncountableRetail price; full price; an abbreviated expression, meaning the full suggested price of a particular good or service, before any sale, discount, or other deal.
I never pay retail for clothes.
adjectiveretail (not comparable)
- not comparableOf or relating to the (actual or figurative) sale of goods or services directly to individuals.
But even with her level of celebrity, it would be very hard to win a race without engaging voters in a very retail way.
2010 September 17, “Sarah Palin's visit to Iowa keeps fans guessing”, in Des Moines Register3 more examples
"This is a very retail approach for us," Czerw said. "But when you buy one out of every six home loans in the US, you are going to have a constant flow ..."
1997 December 28, “Freddie Mac establishes existing-home sales division”, in Deseret NewsThe future for Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Conn., also looks very retail. Plans call for $156 million to expand the main terminal,
1999 December 12, Naedine Joy Hazell, “TRAVEL INSIDER; Airport Malls Redefine 'Shopping on the Fly'”, in Los Angeles TimesWhen the New York Post branded Ron DeSantis “DeFuture” in 2022[…], it had not reckoned on the Florida governor being astonishingly awkward with the basics of retail politics: smiling, shaking hands, interacting with other people.
2024 January 19, Jonathan Freedland, “There is still a way to stop Donald Trump – but time is running out”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
adverb
- Direct to consumers, in retail quantities, or at retail prices.
We've shut shown our reseller unit. We're only selling retail now.
verbretail (third-person singular simple present retails, present participle retailing, simple past and past participle retailed)
present singular third person retails · participle present retailing · participle past retailed · past retailed
- To sell at retail, or in small quantities directly to customers.
a half part of this purveying is carried on within the city and is called retailing.
2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 223d - archaicTo sell secondhand, or in broken parts.
- To repeat or circulate (news or rumours) to others.
He became quite pale as he retailed these stories to Constance.
1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 7622 more examples
He retailed to them the curious interchange of phrases he had overheard on the journey from Aleppo.
1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 12, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 157The fantasies of blood libel that Bosnian Serbs retailed about Bosnian Muslims were the fantasies that Rhinelanders had centuries earlier retailed about the Jews they had murdered.
1998 February 1, Alan Ryan, “Hot Spots (review of The Warrior's Honor: Ethnic War and the Modern Conscience by Michael Ignatieff)”, in The New York Times
Synonyms & antonyms
Opposite
nounthe selling of goods to consumers; usually in small quantities and not for resale
Opposite
adverbat a retail price
Opposite
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From the Old French verb retaillier.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian търговия на дребно, цена на дребно
- търговия на дребно (tărgovija na drebno)sale of goods directly to the consumer
- цена на дребно (cena na drebno)retail price
- на дребно (na drebno)relating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
- на дребно (na drebno)in retail quantities
- продавам на дребно (prodavam na drebno)to sell at retail, or in small quantities directly to customers
- разпространявам (razprostranjavam)to repeat or circulate (news or rumours) to others.
Chinese Mandarin 零售, 零售價 /零售价
- 零售 (língshòu)sale of goods directly to the consumer
- 零售價 /零售价 (língshòujià)retail price
Czech maloobchod
- maloobchodsale of goods directly to the consumer
Danish detailhandel, detailsalg
- detailhandelsale of goods directly to the consumer
- detailsalgsale of goods directly to the consumer
Dutch detailhandel, adviesprijs
- detailhandelsale of goods directly to the consumer
- adviesprijsretail price
Esperanto debiti
- debitito sell at retail, or in small quantities directly to customers
Estonian jaemüük, jaekaubandus
- jaemüüksale of goods directly to the consumer
- jaekaubandussale of goods directly to the consumer
- tarbijahindretail price
- jaehindretail price
Finnish vähittäismyynti, vähittäiskauppa
- vähittäismyyntisale of goods directly to the consumer
- vähittäiskauppasale of goods directly to the consumer
- vähittäismyyntihintaretail price
- vähittäishintaretail price
- vähittäismyynti-relating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
- vähittäinin retail quantities
- harjoittaa vähittäiskauppaato sell at retail, or in small quantities directly to customers
- myydä vähittäinto sell at retail, or in small quantities directly to customers
- levittääto repeat or circulate (news or rumours) to others.
- kertoato repeat or circulate (news or rumours) to others.
French vente au détail, vendre au détail
- vente au détailsale of goods directly to the consumer
- vendre au détailto sell at retail, or in small quantities directly to customers
German Einzelhandel, Einzelhandelsabsatz
- Einzelhandelsale of goods directly to the consumer
- Einzelhandelsabsatzsale of goods directly to the consumer
- Kleinverkaufsale of goods directly to the consumer
- Originalpreisretail price
- regulärer Preisretail price
- Ladenpreisretail price
- Verkaufspreisretail price
Greek λιανική, λιανεμπόριο
- λιανική (lianikí)sale of goods directly to the consumer
- λιανεμπόριο (lianempório)sale of goods directly to the consumer
- λιανικός (lianikós)relating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
- λιανικά (lianiká)in retail quantities
Hebrew קִמְעוֹנָאוּת, מְחִיר קִמְעוֹנָאִי
- קִמְעוֹנָאוּת (kim'ona'ut)sale of goods directly to the consumer
- מְחִיר קִמְעוֹנָאִי (mehir kim'ona'i)retail price
- קִמְעוֹנָאִי (kim'ona'i)relating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
- קִמְעוֹנָאִית (kim'ona'it)relating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
Hindi फुटकर
- फुटकर (phuṭkar)relating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
Hungarian kiskereskedelem, fogyasztói ár
- kiskereskedelemsale of goods directly to the consumer
- fogyasztói árretail price
Indonesian eceran, ecer
- eceransale of goods directly to the consumer
- ecerrelating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
- mengecerto sell at retail, or in small quantities directly to customers
Irish miondíol
- miondíolsale of goods directly to the consumer
Italian vendita al dettaglio, al dettaglio
- vendita al dettagliosale of goods directly to the consumer
- al dettagliorelating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
- al dettaglioin retail quantities
- vendere al dettaglioto sell at retail, or in small quantities directly to customers
Japanese 小売, 小売り
- 小売 (kōri)sale of goods directly to the consumer
- 小売り (kōri)sale of goods directly to the consumer
- 小売価格 (kōri kakaku)retail price
Korean 소매
- 소매 (somae)sale of goods directly to the consumer
Malay runcit, runcit
- runcitsale of goods directly to the consumer
- runcitrelating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
Māori hoko whakamutunga
- hoko whakamutungasale of goods directly to the consumer
Norwegian Bokmål detaljhandel
- detaljhandelsale of goods directly to the consumer
Polish handel detaliczny, detal
- handel detalicznysale of goods directly to the consumer
- detalsale of goods directly to the consumer
- cena detalicznaretail price
- detalicznyrelating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
- detaliczniein retail quantities
- sprzedawać detalicznieto sell at retail, or in small quantities directly to customers
- sprzedać detalicznieto sell at retail, or in small quantities directly to customers
- rozsiewaćto repeat or circulate (news or rumours) to others.
- rozsiaćto repeat or circulate (news or rumours) to others.
Portuguese varejo, retalho
- varejosale of goods directly to the consumer
- retalhosale of goods directly to the consumer
- vender a varejoto sell at retail, or in small quantities directly to customers
Romanian vânzare cu amănuntul, vânzare cu bucata
- vânzare cu amănuntulsale of goods directly to the consumer
- vânzare cu bucatasale of goods directly to the consumer
Russian ро́зница, ро́зничная прода́жа
- ро́зница (róznica)sale of goods directly to the consumer
- ро́зничная прода́жа (rózničnaja prodáža)sale of goods directly to the consumer
- ро́зничная торго́вля (rózničnaja torgóvlja)sale of goods directly to the consumer
- ро́зничная цена́ (rózničnaja cená)retail price
- ро́зничный (rózničnyj)relating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
- в ро́зницу (v róznicu)in retail quantities
- продава́ть в ро́зницу (prodavátʹ v róznicu)to sell at retail, or in small quantities directly to customers
Slovak maloobchod
- maloobchodsale of goods directly to the consumer
Spanish venta al por menor, venta al detalle
- venta al por menorsale of goods directly to the consumer
- venta al detallesale of goods directly to the consumer
- retailsale of goods directly to the consumer
- minorismosale of goods directly to the consumer
- al detallerelating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
- al por menorrelating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
- minoristarelating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
- de retailrelating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
- al detallin retail quantities
- al por menorin retail quantities
Swedish detaljhandel
- detaljhandelsale of goods directly to the consumer
Tagalog tingi, pagtitingi
- tingisale of goods directly to the consumer
- pagtitingisale of goods directly to the consumer
- tingiansale of goods directly to the consumer
- tingianin retail quantities
- magtingito sell at retail, or in small quantities directly to customers
Ukrainian ро́здріб, роздрібни́й
- ро́здріб (rózdrib)sale of goods directly to the consumer
- роздрібни́й (rozdribnýj)relating to the sale of goods or services directly to individual consumers
Vietnamese bán lẻ
- bán lẻsale of goods directly to the consumer
Welsh manwerth
- manwerthsale of goods directly to the consumer
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with retail
emailmailscaledetailfailtrailthumbnailtailtaledalejailyalepalegalesailavailbailvalealeGailhalehailvailveil
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
retail. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/retail
MLA
“retail.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/retail. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “retail,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/retail.
Source: retail on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.