bid

A bid is an amount of money that is offered in order to get something. If a bid is too low, it might not be accepted by a seller. If a bid is too high, the buyer might be making a mistake by offering to pay too much. To make a bid on anything usually requires knowledge and experience.

• A person who wants to buy a house makes a bid. (bid = offer)
• I made a bid on a house and it was accepted.
• Our company is making a bid on a building and some land in order to expand its operations.
• People who attend auctions make bids on items that are up for sale.
• An auctioneer asks people to make bids.

When a house goes up for sale, interested buyers make bids on it.

When "bid" is used as a verb, it’s irregular:

• Tony bids on stocks that he believes are a good value. (present tense)
• He bid on a stock priced at $45 a share. He sold it the next week when it hit $50 a share. (past tense)
• Over the years, Tony has bid on stocks that have made money and lost money for him. (present perfect tense)
• A lot of money was bid on a horse that lost its race. (This sentence is in the past tense, passive voice.)
• How much money would you be willing to bid on a house that you wanted to buy?

The word "bid" is also used in circumstances when a person is trying to win a political office:

• Hillary Clinton is making her second bid for the presidency of the United States.
• Right-wing political parties in Europe are making successful bids for elected positions in government.

Click here to go to the Word of the Day page.

Date of publication: October 2, 2016