Meaning & use
closing down sale
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableBritishbusiness
A sale in which a shop reduces its prices on all stock because it is about to shut permanently.
Grammar: Countable: a closing down sale, two closing down sales.
Patterns
- a closing down sale at something
- hold a closing down sale
The bookshop is holding a closing down sale, with everything half price.
We found a lovely lamp at the closing down sale.
Crowds queued outside the department store for its closing down sale.
Word forms
| plural | closing down sales |
|---|
Common combinations
- hold a closing down sale
- The shoe shop will hold a closing down sale next week.
- everything must go
- The sign at the closing down sale read everything must go.
- huge closing down sale
- A huge closing down sale began on Friday.
- closing down sale prices
- Closing down sale prices attracted bargain hunters.
Synonyms and how they differ
- going-out-of-business sale
- This is the American equivalent and is used in the same way.
- liquidation sale
- A liquidation sale sounds more formal and often follows legal bankruptcy.
- clearance sale
- A clearance sale only removes old stock, and the shop may stay open, unlike a closing down sale.
Word family
- closing noun
- the act of shutting
- close down phrasal verb
- to stop operating permanently
- sale noun
- a period of reduced prices
Commonly confused: closing down sale or clearance sale?
closing down sale vs clearance sale
A clearance sale clears surplus stock, while a closing down sale marks the end of the business.
Practice
Why would a shop hold a closing down sale?
Choose one answer.
A closing down sale clears stock because the business is ending. The other reasons do not require selling everything.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “closing down sale”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.