Word.ws English Dictionary

prize

UK/ˈpɹaɪ̯z/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ˈpɹɑ̟ɪ̯z/

prize noun: that which is taken from another; something captured; a thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power. Also the obsolete form of price.

Noun

prize (plural prizes)

  1. That which is taken from another; something captured; a thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power.
    • […] wherefore he now begunne
      To challenge her anew, as his owne prize,
      Whom formerly he had in battell wonne,1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 54
  2. Anything captured by a belligerent using the rights of war; especially, property captured at sea in virtue of the rights of war, as a vessel.
    • Having taken all the Treasure on Board their own Ships, and plundered their Prize of every Thing elſe they either wanted or liked, they let her go; ſhe not being able to continue her Voyage, returned back: […]1724, Charles Johnson [pseudonym], “Of Captain Avery, and His Crew”, in A General History of the Pyrates, […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for, and sold by T. Warner, […], →OCLC, page 51
  3. An honour or reward striven for in a competitive contest; anything offered to be competed for, or as an inducement to, or reward of, effort.
    • I fought and conquer’d, yet have lost the prize.1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, Act I, page 5
  4. That which may be won by chance, as in a lottery.
    • Cecil Rhodes […] was never tired of impressing upon one that the fact of being an Englishman was “the greatest prize in the lottery of life,” and that it was that thought which always sustained him when he was troubled.1928, Weston Jarvis, Jottings from an Active Life, London: Heath Cranton, page 256
  5. Anything worth striving for; a valuable possession held or in prospect.
    • I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Philippians 3:14
  6. (obsolete) A contest for a reward; competition.
    • Like one of two contending in a prize,
      That thinks he hath done well in people's eyes […]c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  7. A lever; a pry; also, the hold of a lever.
    Synonyms:
    prise

Verb

prize (third-person singular simple present prizes, present participle prizing, simple past and past participle prized)

  1. To consider highly valuable; to esteem.
    • […] I
      Beyond all limit of what else i’ the world
      Do love, prize, honour you.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
    • I pris’d your Person, but your Crown disdain.1675, John Dryden, chapter V, in Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC
  2. (obsolete) To set or estimate the value of; to appraise; to price; to rate.
    • […] no life,
      I prize it not a straw, but for mine honour,c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
    • […] a goodly price that I was prized at.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Zechariah 11:13
  3. To move with a lever; to force up or open; to prise or pry.
    • ‘Find some other black boxes to prize open.’2021, Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun, Faber & Faber Limited, page 298
  4. (obsolete) To compete in a prizefight.

Adjective

prize (not comparable)

  1. Having won a prize; award-winning.
    • a prize vegetable
  2. First-rate; exceptional.
    • He was a prize fool.

Also used as

prize is also the obsolete form of price.

prize meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

prize in Hindi

anything captured using the rights of war
लूट lūṭ, ग़नीमत ġanīmat
honor or reward striven for in a competitive contest
इनाम inām, पुरस्कार puraskār

prize in Tamil

பரிசு

prize in Marathi

बक्षीस

prize in Urdu

anything captured using the rights of war
لُوٹ lūṭ, غَنِیمَت ġanīmat
honor or reward striven for in a competitive contest
اِنْعام in'ām
More languagesFewer languages
prize in Bengali
প্রাইজ praij, পুরষ্কার purośkar
prize in Telugu
బహుమతి, బహుమానం
prize in Kannada
ಬಹುಮಾನ
prize in Punjabi
ਇਨਾਮ
prize in Gujarati
ઇનામ
prize in Sanskrit
मीढ mīḍha
prize in Assamese
বঁটা bõta
prize in Pashto
انعام en'ãm
prize in Tagalog
premyo
prize in Arabic
سَلِيبَة salība, غَنِيمَة ḡanīma, جَائِزَة jāʔiza, مُكَافَأَة mukāfaʔa
prize in Thai
รางวัล raang-wan
prize in Vietnamese
giải thưởng, giải
prize in Myanmar
ဆု hcu.

Examples of prize in a sentence

  • Three contestants will win awards, but the last prize is just a book voucher.
  • There were two bingos in the last game, so the players split the prize money.
  • There will be a small prize for the first sighting of a seal.

All 40 example sentences with prize

Synonyms of prize

17 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of prize

Forms of prize

Noun
pluralprizes
Verb
third-person singular presentprizes
present participleprizing
past participleprized
pastprized

Past tense of prize: prized

Plural of prize: prizes

Origin of prize

From Middle English prise, from Old French prise (“a taking, capture, a seizure, a thing seized, a prize, booty, also hold, purchase”), past participle of prendre (“to take, to capture”), from Latin prēndere (“to take, seize”); see prehend. Compare prison, apprise, comprise, enterprise, purprise, reprisal, surprise, etc. Doublet of prise.

From Middle English prysen, borrowed from Old French preisier (“to set a price or value on, esteem, value”), from pris (“price”), from Latin pretium (“price, value”), whence price; see also praise, a doublet. Compare appraise, apprize.

Alternative forms.

Words formed from prize

Phrases with prize

3 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with prize

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about prize

What does prize mean?
Prize means that which is taken from another; something captured; a thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power.
What is prize in Hindi?
Prize in Hindi is लूट (lūṭ), ग़नीमत (ġanīmat), इनाम (inām). See Prize meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is prize?
Prize can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce prize?
Prize is pronounced /ˈpɹaɪ̯z/ (UK).
What is the plural of prize?
The plural of prize is prizes.

Words near prize in the dictionary

  1. Priya
  2. Priyadarshini
  3. Priyanka
  4. priyome
  5. prizable
  6. prize
  7. prize cake
  8. prize crate
  9. prize crates
  10. prize crew
  11. prize crews

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: prize (page history and authors); prize (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prize (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prize (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prize (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prize (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prize (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-prize.ogg.

Cite this entry: “prize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.