consumer price index

noun

: an index measuring the change in the cost of typical wage-earner purchases of goods and services expressed as a percentage of the cost of these same goods and services in some base period

called also cost-of-living index

Examples of consumer price index in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The consumer price index, a broad measure of costs across the U.S. economy, increased 0.2% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.8%. —Lisa Kailai Han,brian Evans, CNBC, 11 Mar. 2025

The overall consumer price index likely increased 0.3% last month, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. —Joey Garrison, USA TODAY, 11 Mar. 2025

The past few years have shown American consumers hate inflation and with good reason – the consumer price index rose 22% between December 2019 and November last year. —Brendan Coffey, Sportico.com, 9 Mar. 2025

The consumer price index increased 3% in January from a year ago, up from a 3 1/2 year low of 2.4% in September. —CBS News, 27 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1945, in the meaning defined above

Legal Definition

consumer price index

noun

consumer price in·​dex

: an index measuring the change in the cost of typical wage-earner purchases of goods and services in some base period

called also cost-of-living index