lowballing

Verb

lowball (third-person singular simple present lowballs, present participle lowballing, simple past and past participle lowballed)

1. (transitive) To give an intentionally low estimate of anything, not necessarily with deceptive intent.
   • It may be, but it is worth noting that if the mortality rate is as low as 0.7% as some experts now hope rather than between 3 and 5% as the data suggests so far, that is still a lot of dead Americans. Californian health officials are bracing for a 56% infection rate. In New York, they are talking...2020, Trump's ambitious plan as the US becomes the COVID-19 pandemic's new epicentre (Planet America), spoken by John Barron (John Barron), ABC News In-depth (YouTube)
2. (transitive) To give (a customer) a deceptively low price or cost estimate that one has no intention of honoring or to prepare a cost estimate deliberately and misleadingly low.
   • A few other news flashes from the interview: The president of the United States thinks that the government should not pay its bills in full. It should lowball its contractors and force them to accept half payment, he said.2025 February 19, Tom Nichols, “Who Is Running the United States, Musk or Trump?”, in The Atlantic
3. (transitive) To make an offer well below an item's true value, often to take advantage of the seller's desperation or desire to sell the item quickly.

See all 8 meanings of lowball