buy versus purchase

English translation: synonyms

16:16 Mar 6, 2004

English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Other / usage

English term or phrase: buy versus purchase

I want to know from the English native speakers whether the above words are interchangeable. Whether there is some difference between these two? Whether both of these sentences are correct:

1. I have bought a television.

2. I have purchased a television.

Kindly clarify. Thank you.

Jagmohan

Selected answer:synonyms

Explanation:
purchase is a bit more formal

Oxford Dictionary of synonyms:

purchase

Øverb
the school decided to purchase the software
BUY, acquire, obtain, pick up, snap up, take, secure, procure, come by, pay for, shop for, invest in, put money into; informal get hold of, get one's hands on, lay one's hands on, get one's mitts on, score.
-opposite(s): SELL, MARKET.

Selected response from:

David Russi
United States
Local time: 23:00

Grading comment

Graded automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

5 +18

synonyms

David Russi

Answers

5 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +18

synonyms

David Russi
United States
Local time: 23:00
Native speaker of:

English,

Spanish
PRO pts in category: 30

Grading comment

Graded automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Elena Sgarbo (X): Yes :-)

6 mins

agree

Hacene: buy is a word of saxon root meaning acquiring by giving money, purchase is a word of latin origin meaning acquiring by legal means. in modern English there little difference between the 2 except purchase is more formal and implies legality.

7 mins

agree

Vjollca Martinson

10 mins

agree

Henry Hinds: In the US, "buy" would be the most frequent choice due to its brevity and informality, the use of "purchase" in your context would often indicate a non-native speaker.

16 mins

agree

RHELLER: same for TV sentence but other forms may have different usages: purchasing department / buyer (retail job)

22 mins

agree

Sarah Ponting

28 mins

agree

Vicky Papaprodromou

45 mins

agree

Steven Capsuto: Conversationally, "buy" works better. "Purchase" sounds a little pretentious or legalese.

57 mins

agree

agtranslat: Using "purchase" instead of "buy" is also a linguistic marker for certain English-as-a-second-language communities.

2 hrs

agree

IrinaGM: agree to all the comments

3 hrs

agree

lindaellen (X)

4 hrs

agree

Fuad Yahya: I agree with Rita.

4 hrs

agree

Syeda Tanbira Zaman: Rita is correct.

8 hrs

agree

Alexandra Tussing

18 hrs

agree

vixen

1 day 21 mins

agree

jebeen

1 day 1 hr

agree

Nado2002

1 day 7 hrs

agree

Jörgen Slet

1 day 15 hrs

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