Meaning & use
offer to purchase
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Meaning
nouncountablebusinessformal
A written proposal in which a buyer states the price and conditions on which they will buy a property or business.
Grammar: Countable: make an offer to purchase, sign two offers to purchase.
Patterns
- make an offer to purchase something
- accept an offer to purchase
The couple submitted an offer to purchase the house at the asking price.
The seller accepted the offer to purchase last Friday.
An offer to purchase is usually valid only for a few days.
Word forms
| plural | offers to purchase |
|---|
Common combinations
- make an offer to purchase
- We made an offer to purchase the apartment.
- accept an offer to purchase
- The owner accepted the offer to purchase.
- sign an offer to purchase
- She signed an offer to purchase in the lawyer's office.
- conditional offer to purchase
- They made a conditional offer to purchase.
- withdraw an offer to purchase
- He withdrew the offer to purchase after the inspection.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bid
- A bid is often made in an auction and is less formal.
- proposal
- Proposal is more general and can be about anything, not just buying.
- purchase offer
- Purchase offer is a plainer version of the same idea.
- tender
- A tender is a formal offer to supply goods or services, not to buy.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: offer to purchase or offer to sell?
offer to purchase vs offer to sell
An offer to sell comes from the seller, while an offer to purchase comes from the buyer.
Practice
A buyer who writes the price and conditions for buying a house is making an ___.
Choose one answer.
An offer to purchase is a buyer's proposal. The other options are for renting, selling or leaving a property.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “offer to purchase”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.