as in negotiating
to talk over or dispute the terms of a purchase
I horse-traded with the painter: I did his tax returns, and he did my kitchen
Synonyms & Similar Words
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as in negotiation
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Recent Examples of horse trading
Tom Kertscher, jsonline.com, 5 Sep. 2025
Paul Vallas, Chicago Tribune, 29 Aug. 2025
Verb
Both sides have priorities, and there is horse trading and eventually compromise, at least on some issues.
—Tom Kertscher, jsonline.com, 5 Sep. 2025
Noun
This horse-trading process lacks any moral code or transparency.
—Paul Vallas, Chicago Tribune, 29 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for horse trading
Verb
-
On Tinder alone, men dominate the active user base, which gives women more choice and negotiating power.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
7 Sep. 2025
-
Brown as the crafty Pauline is the true scene stealer, negotiating terms of terror herself.—
Pete Hammond,
Deadline,
6 Sep. 2025
Verb
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And there is often an expectation of escapism in romance that precludes dealing realistically with money — or, for big media blockbusters, a cynical assumption that audiences won't enjoy a romcom which also takes the logistics of life seriously.—
Chelsea Fagan,
PEOPLE,
6 Sep. 2025
-
There just aren’t many trades in the NFL as seismic as Dallas dealing Micah Parsons to Green Bay on the eve of the regular season.—
Parker Gabriel,
Denver Post,
6 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Businesses can avoid antitrust scrutiny by collectively bargaining economic rules with employees’ unions.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
3 Sep. 2025
-
The settlement resolved a complaint alleging the health center had illegally laid off more than 50 workers without bargaining with their union.—
Lisa Schencker,
Chicago Tribune,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Whether gazing from Gellért Hill or haggling for paprika in the Great Market Hall—the city reveals itself in fragments—intimate, contradictory, and impossible to forget.—
Lewis Nunn,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
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Heimlich Community College has rejected her application for Budget and Finance director on the grounds that experience haggling in Saudi-eye Arabi-eyen flea markets is not the same as a master’s in economics, forcing Peggy to admit her career in academia is over.—
Genevieve Koski,
Vulture,
5 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Coaches are also bickering about money, a topic that would have felt out of place 10 years ago.—
Eben Novy-Williams,
Sportico.com,
5 Sep. 2025
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The casting here is perfection itself, with Cumberbatch and Colman bickering back and forth with all the drawing-room style of a new age Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall, or maybe the Burton and Taylor of The Taming of the Shrew with a dab of Virginia Woolf.—
Pete Hammond,
Deadline,
25 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Horse trading.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/horse%20trading. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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