Barter

//ˈbɑɹtɚ// name, noun, verb

name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An exchange of goods or services without the use of money. uncountable, usually

    "We had no money so we had to live by barter."

  2. 2
    an equal exchange wordnet
  3. 3
    The goods or services used in such an exchange. uncountable, usually

    "The man used his watch as barter to pay for his tab."

Verb
  1. 1
    To exchange goods or services without involving money. ambitransitive

    "She bartered a bonsai for one of the rare books in my library."

  2. 2
    exchange goods without involving money wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
swapswapswoptradetradeabalienate

Example

More examples

"Barter, however, was a very unsatisfactory system because people's needs seldom matched exactly."

Etymology

Late Middle English, from Old French barater.

Related phrases

silent barter

More for "barter"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.