sell off

verb

To sell assets for the purpose of disposing of them quickly rather than for maximizing profit.

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Meanings

verbsell off (third-person singular simple present sells off, present participle selling off, simple past and past participle sold off)

present singular third person sells off · participle present selling off · participle past sold off · past sold off

  1. transitiveTo sell assets for the purpose of disposing of them quickly rather than for maximizing profit.

    When Cyril goes searching for his deadbeat father, he’s also looking for his bike, and he’s devastated to discover his dad sold it off to make ends meet.

    March 15 2012, Soctt Tobias, The Kid With A Bike [Review]
    1 more example

    I have always argued that despite my opposition to rail privatisation, I should be grateful that John Major won the 1992 election on a platform to sell off the railways, as otherwise my column would have disappeared given the paucity of things to write about.

    2024 January 10, Christian Wolmar, “A time for change? ... just as it was back in issue 262”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 60

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
divest

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 賣掉 /卖掉, 賤賣 /贱卖
  • 賣掉 /卖掉 (màidiào)sell assets for the purpose of getting rid of them quickly
  • 賤賣 /贱卖 (jiànmài)sell assets for the purpose of getting rid of them quickly
  • 拋售 /抛售 (pāoshòu)sell assets for the purpose of getting rid of them quickly
Finnish myydä pois
  • myydä poissell assets for the purpose of getting rid of them quickly
French vendre à perte, brader
  • vendre à pertesell assets for the purpose of getting rid of them quickly
  • bradersell assets for the purpose of getting rid of them quickly
Greek εκποιώ
  • εκποιώ (ekpoió)sell assets for the purpose of getting rid of them quickly
Japanese 売り払う, 売り飛ばす
  • 売り払う (uriharau)sell assets for the purpose of getting rid of them quickly
  • 売り飛ばす (uritobasu)sell assets for the purpose of getting rid of them quickly
Polish wyprzedawać, wyprzedać
  • wyprzedawaćsell assets for the purpose of getting rid of them quickly
  • wyprzedaćsell assets for the purpose of getting rid of them quickly
Spanish liquidar, rematar
  • liquidarsell assets for the purpose of getting rid of them quickly
  • rematarsell assets for the purpose of getting rid of them quickly
Cite this entry
APA

sell off. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sell%20off

MLA

“sell off.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sell%20off. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sell off,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sell%20off.

Source: sell off on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.