tariff

[ tar-if ]

noun

1. an official list or table showing the duties or customs imposed by a government on imports or exports.
2. the schedule or system of duties so imposed.
3. any duty or rate of duty in such a list or schedule.
4. any table of charges, as of a railroad, bus line, etc.
5. bill; cost; charge.

verb (used with object)

1. to subject to a tariff.
2. to put a valuation on according to a tariff.

tariff

/ ˈtærɪf /

noun

1. 1. a tax levied by a government on imports or occasionally exports for purposes of protection, support of the balance of payments, or the raising of revenue
   2. a system or list of such taxes
2. any schedule of prices, fees, fares, etc
3. 1. a method of charging for the supply of services, esp public services, such as gas and electricity

      block tariff

   2. a schedule of such charges
4. a bill of fare with prices listed; menu
5. the level of punishment imposed for a criminal offence

verb

1. to set a tariff on
2. to set a price on according to a schedule of tariffs

tariff

1. A government tax on imports, designed either to raise revenue or to protect domestic industry from foreign competition.

Derived Forms

• ˈtariffless, adjective

Other Words From

• tariff·less adjective
• pre·tariff noun adjective
• pro·tariff adjective
• re·tariff verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of tariff¹

First recorded in 1585–95; earlier tariffa, from Italian, from Arabic taʿrīfah, derivative of ʿarrafa “to make known,” akin to ʿarafa “to know”

Word History and Origins

Origin of tariff¹

C16: from Italian tariffa, from Arabic ta`rīfa to inform

Example Sentences

Some of them, like an across-the-board tariff on Chinese goods, might actually work.

From The Daily Beast

The U.K. has adopted a healthy feed-in tariff that guarantees solar system owners an attractive price for the energy they produce.

From The Daily Beast

Everybody knows how the Tariff and Labour questions were settled.

From The Daily Beast

They impose non-tariff barriers against exports and buy foreign companies while denying foreign ownership in their own economies.

From The Daily Beast

The tariff of 1828, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which led to the civil war in “Bloody Kansas” and ultimately to the Civil War itself.

From The Daily Beast

But they have tied their credit system in the bonds of narrow banking laws and their trade in those of a cramping tariff.

From Project Gutenberg

Fortunately the results would not be immediately apparent, otherwise he would be compelled to raise his tariff for cheap suits.

From Project Gutenberg

Let us look at their two main measures—the new tariff and the new corn-law.

From Project Gutenberg

There is a perfect identity of principle, both working to the same good end, between the existing corn-law and the new tariff.

From Project Gutenberg

One may now search hours for one, and, if found, have to pay four or five times the old tariff.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cost
• duty
• excise
• levy
• price
• rate
• tax
• toll