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Glite Dictionary
to trade in

to trade in

32 3.9
To give something you own to a seller as part payment for a new one
  • phrasal verb
  • /treɪd ɪn/
translation icon : entregar como parte de pago
  • You can trade in your laptop at the store and get a discount on a new one.
  • trade in goods

I think, you know, for someone to trade in a Quest Pro.

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Examples

  • I wanted to trade it in for an SUV.

    One of These Days (2021)

  • Can I trade my car in and take another?

    Psycho (1960)

  • So I traded them in for a pair of these latest models.

    The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

  • I trade in my fancy BMW, move back with my parents.

  • So you could do the environmentally and just generally responsible thing and trade in your phone and then just buy one.

  • He traded in the crop duster for the old Cessna sitting out there in the barn.

    Flight (2012)

  • He decided to trade in his old phone for a newer model.

  • She plans to trade in her sedan for a more fuel-efficient hybrid car.

Synonyms

to trade
vsto trade in
588 1.0

To give something and get something else in return

involves handing an old item to a dealer as part payment for new
to exchange
vsto trade in
274 1.8

To give something and get something in return

focuses on giving an item to a dealer to reduce the price of new

Antonyms

to keep
∞ 1.0

To continue doing something or stay in the same state

How Formal

to trade in
32 3.9
to dispose
149 3.4
to hock
  • Informal
14 8.7
to dump
541 2.6

Surface Forms

trade in infinitive
traded in past
traded in past participle
trading in present participle
trades in third person singular

Morphology

trade + in

The core sense of exchange comes from 'trade' and the particle 'in' signals giving something into a transaction, so a learner who knows both words can infer the general idea of handing an item to a dealer in exchange for another. However, the specific commercial nuance 'as part payment' and the conventionalized phrasal-verb meaning are not fully predictable from the parts alone and vary cross-linguistically, making full comprehension without exposure uncertain.

Etymology

The verb trade in comes from shops where you would trade an old item in to the seller, giving it as part of the payment for a new one. So, it means 'to give something you own to a dealer in part payment for something new'.