down payment

noun

: a part of the full price paid at the time of purchase or delivery with the balance to be paid later

broadly : the first step in a process

Examples of down payment in a Sentence

She made a 10 percent down payment on the car.

We put a down payment on the house.

Recent Examples on the Web

Buyers are also having to come up with a huge down payment that’s roughly double the median salary of a US worker. —Bryan Mena, CNN, 20 June 2024

The woman plans to use the money to put a down payment on a house and then save the rest, officials said. —Paloma Chavez, Miami Herald, 3 June 2024

For example, an attached condo with 20% down is priced very differently than a single-family home with the same down payment. —Jeff Lazerson, Orange County Register, 6 June 2024

This sometimes comes in the form of rent assistance, living at home for longer, or help with a down payment. —Sydney Lake, Fortune, 5 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1854, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

down payment

noun

: a part of the full price paid at the time of purchase or delivery with the remainder to be paid later