to ask for a discount
1
2.1
- phrasal verb
:
pedir un descuento
- The price is slightly above your limit; it never hurts to ask for a discount.
Examples
-
If a customer asks for a discount, Ben never refuses.
Fiction book (1990) -
But if you tell them you are paying cash, ask for a discount.
Blog text (32) -
Also, recently, I took the time to write a huge company to simply ask for a discount on an order.
Blog text (11) -
I hate when people contact me on Etsy, asking for a discount.
Blog text (1) -
You don't go to the store and buy milk and ask for a discount.
Blog text (2) -
Literally, every other time I've asked for a discount in my personal life, I've been turned down.
Blog text (3) -
It makes me angry because it's exactly like blaming people for paying full price for health care: it's not the fault of customers not to know they can ask for a discount.
Blog text (3) -
Secondary students asking for a discount on bus fares, a lady taking her dog for a walk in the wrong place at the wrong time, revolutionaries or their relatives, their neighbors, it's all the same to them.
Fiction book (2000) -
The best strategy is to ask for a discount when buying in bulk.
-
When buying a new car, don't forget to ask for a discount at the dealership.
Antonyms
How Assertive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning ‘to request that the price be reduced’ is directly and predictably composed from 'ask' + 'for' + 'discount' — literally asking for a reduction. This construction (ask for + noun) is a basic, cross-linguistically common request pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Ask for a discount comes from busy market stalls where buyers would ask sellers to lower the price a little, and that lower price was a discount. That's why it now means 'to request that the price of something be reduced' or simply 'to try to pay less'.