consumer price index

noun

: an index measuring the change in the cost of typical wage-earner purchases of goods and services expressed as a percentage of the cost of these same goods and services in some base period

called also cost-of-living index

Examples of consumer price index in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Economic worries and inflation Investors also remain skittish about the health of the U.S. economy and whether inflation is still falling after a spate of weak economic data and January's hotter-than-expected consumer price index. —Medora Lee, USA TODAY, 27 Feb. 2025

The country’s weighted consumer price index rose 2.5% year on year in January, same as the month before. —Amala Balakrishner, CNBC, 25 Feb. 2025

Over the past three months, the consumer price index has increased at an annual rate of 4.5% — a sign that inflation is heating up again after having cooled for much of 2024. —Lindsay Whitehurst, Chicago Tribune, 15 Feb. 2025

Twenty-five percent would nearly match the entire increase in the consumer price index for food at home from 2021 to 2024. —Nathaniel Rakich, ABC News, 13 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1945, in the meaning defined above

Legal Definition

consumer price index

noun

consumer price in·​dex

: an index measuring the change in the cost of typical wage-earner purchases of goods and services in some base period

called also cost-of-living index