fire sale

American  

noun

1. a special sale of merchandise actually or supposedly damaged by fire.

2. a sale, as of assets, at reduced prices, in order to raise money quickly.

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fire sale British  

noun

1. a sale of goods at reduced prices after a fire at a shop or factory

2. 1. any instance of offering goods or assets at greatly reduced prices to ensure a quick sale

   2. ( as modifier )

      fire-sale prices

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Other Word Forms

• fire-sale adjective

Etymology

Origin of fire sale

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95

Example Sentences

The thinking is that those provisions protect the fund’s remaining investors from a rush to the exits that would force managers to sell underlying securities at fire sale prices.

From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026

Even if I distributed the proceeds from a fire sale to them, our staff would struggle.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 10, 2026

“The art collection is probably worth more than what the building is,” said McKechnie, who added that a fire sale isn’t a sustainable solution for the club’s financial woes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 22, 2025

Communities across the UK are paying for spiralling levels of council borrowing with a fire sale of publicly owned facilities, a BBC study has found.

From BBC • Aug. 25, 2025

In some ways that's a good suggestion of yours, and, if we'd had a little more stuff damaged to justify it, I think I'd have been very much tempted to have a fire sale.

From Dawson Black: Retail Merchant by Whitehead, Harold