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# sell

«sell» in Mova's school dictionary: **to give something to someone for money** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (sell, sells, sold, selling); noun (a hard sell — rare)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To sell is to give something to someone for money. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sell/#m1)

2) Something sells when people buy it, as in «The book sells well». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sell/#m2)

3) To sell an idea is to make people like it or agree with it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sell/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

an action that takes things away from the seller and brings in money; in everyday life: shops, bake sales, garage sales; phrases «sell out» (sell all), «for sale», «on sale», «sell for»

### examples

- The baker sold 75 cakes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sell/#x1)
- She sells lemonade for 2 dollars a cup. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sell/#x2)
- How many cakes did he sell in all? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sell/#x3)
- He sold 8 more than yesterday. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sell/#x4)
- The concert tickets sold out in an hour. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sell/#x5)
- We sold old toys at a garage sale. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sell/#x6)
- The shop sells shoes and bags. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sell/#x7)
- The house is for sale. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sell/#x8)
- He sold his bike to his cousin. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sell/#x9)
- Ice cream sells best in summer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sell/#x10)

### note

Takes away from what the seller has; money earned = number sold × price. Trap: «how many did he sell» may ask for the sold amount, not what is left. Past form «sold», not «selled». «Sell» sounds like «cell». The opposite is «buy».

### In the corpora

- [Buying, selling or renting a home has many steps, and things can take months or fall through.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/10-moving-house-and-renting-a-home/1/)
- [A "For Sale" board means the family has decided to sell the house, and selling usually takes months, not days.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/10-moving-house-and-renting-a-home/8/)
- [An estate agent helps sell houses, and viewings are when people who might buy come to look round.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/10-moving-house-and-renting-a-home/9/)
- [A tidy house helps buyers imagine living there and can sell faster or for more money.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/10-moving-house-and-renting-a-home/10/)
- [Vapes are made colourful and sweet-tasting, and selling them to under-18s is against the law.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/28-smoking-vaping-and-betting/10/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «sell» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sell/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.