noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A business transaction. in-plural
2. 2
   the act of transacting within or between groups (as carrying on commercial activities) wordnet
3. 3
   One's manner of acting toward others; behaviour; interactions or relations with others.

   "Shylock: O father Abram, what these Christians are, Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect The thoughts of others![…]"

4. 4
   method or manner of conduct in relation to others wordnet

Verb

1. 1
   present participle and gerund of deal form-of, gerund, participle, present

Synonyms

All synonyms

agencyanswerbalance of tradebarterbarteringbig business

Example

More examples

"Effectively dealing with competition is an important part of life."

Etymology

From Middle English delynge, from Old English dǣling; equivalent to deal + -ing.

Related phrases

double-dealingfair dealinginside dealinginsider dealingplain dealingswitch dealingwheeler-dealingwheeling and dealing

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