1
: a sale of property to the highest bidder
2
: the act or process of bidding in some card games
Examples of auction in a Sentence
Noun
She bought the desk at an auction.
He made several bids at the auction.
Verb
They auctioned a similar desk last year.
The house was auctioned last week.
Recent Examples on the Web
Anthony Demarco, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
That apartment, where Lagerfeld reportedly spent about 13 years until his death in 2019, sold at auction in 2024 for 10 million euros.
—Martino Carrera, Footwear News, 8 Apr. 2025
Chuck Schilken, Los Angeles Times, 31 Mar. 2025
To avoid steep financial losses, the Panama Canal Authority raised prices and auctioned transit opportunities to the highest bidders.
—Karina Garcia, The Conversation, 31 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for auction
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Noun
This is the second consecutive year Sotheby’s Geneva is holding a special thematic auction of watches in collaboration with the creative watch collective, heist-out.
—Anthony Demarco, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
That apartment, where Lagerfeld reportedly spent about 13 years until his death in 2019, sold at auction in 2024 for 10 million euros.
—Martino Carrera, Footwear News, 8 Apr. 2025
Verb
That ball was auctioned for $4.392 million, an amount that surpassed any sum paid for a baseball, in October.
—Chuck Schilken, Los Angeles Times, 31 Mar. 2025
To avoid steep financial losses, the Panama Canal Authority raised prices and auctioned transit opportunities to the highest bidders.
—Karina Garcia, The Conversation, 31 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for auction
Cite this Entry
“Auction.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/auction. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
auction
1 of 2 noun
auc·tion
ˈȯk-shən 
: a sale at which things are sold to those who offer to pay the most
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