Home UK English giveaway

Meaning of giveaway in English:

giveaway

Pronunciation /ˈɡɪvəweɪ/

Translate giveaway into Spanish

noun

informal

  • 1A thing that is given free, often for promotional purposes.

    • ‘every issue is packed with competitions and great giveaways’
    • ‘At the ABC's internal local radio awards, the gong for best promotion went to a giveaway of a free trip to France.’
    • ‘Free giveaways for the first 100 people at each campus.’
    • ‘That probably doesn't mean shattered windows and office occupations, but more likely petitions and free food giveaways like one held last March.’
    • ‘Expect much debaucherous revelry and free CD giveaways!’
    • ‘Free champagne and giveaways throughout the night!’
    • ‘Then there's promotional albums and giveaways the labels give to wholesalers, retailers, radio and the press.’
    • ‘I'm doing tons of free giveaways to celebrate my blog's 5th year anniversary.’
    • ‘Sporting and cultural events are beacons for promotional giveaways by newspapers.’
    • ‘You'll also have an opportunity to win free giveaways, and get information.’
    • ‘And the trick is having discounts and sales along with free giveaways all the year.’
    • ‘However, these figures have been influenced by a spate of free CDs and other giveaways which have kept sales up.’
    • ‘Entry is free and there will be CD giveaways and drinks promotions.’
    • ‘The competition is free to enter and there will be other promotions and giveaways over the next few weeks.’
    • ‘Their makers hope the phones will become popular promotional giveaways, like phone cards emblazoned with corporate logos.’
    • ‘Cartoons, giveaways, and promotional products are analyzed in how they attempt to get teenagers to smoke.’
    • ‘Many ideas for promotional giveaways have been born at trade shows, which are geared toward the minor leagues.’
    • ‘This ensures that purchasing decisions are based on product efficacy and not in any way tied to free giveaways.’
    • ‘Plus, there's a promotional giveaway on Friday.’
    • ‘How many times have you seen car giveaways or contests promoting a free trip to an exotic location and wondered who the winners were?’
    • ‘His use of an incentive, called tax-increment financing, to attract developers has been criticized as a tax giveaway for companies that don't need financial breaks.’
    bargain, good buy, cheap buy
    1. 1.1American Football Ice Hockey A loss of possession of the ball or puck to the opposing team.
      • ‘the Patriots have 16 takeaways and two giveaways during their five-game winning streak’

  • 2A thing that makes an inadvertent revelation.

    • ‘the shape of the parcel was a dead giveaway’
    • ‘Find the two dead giveaways in the email, below.’
    • ‘The hotels you stay in, the cafes you frequent and the shopping strip you trawl - all dead giveaways I'm afraid.’
    • ‘It's clearly been designed with web design companies in mind - the assumption that both workers and clients will communicate through a website is a dead giveaway.’
    • ‘A dead giveaway are the fake addresses of such senders.’
    • ‘It is the very pleasant face that is the dead giveaway.’
    • ‘With specks of gravy on his tie and the heavy smell of garlic, his dinner is a dead giveaway.’
    • ‘Good posture and sure footing are dead giveaways that you come from money.’
    • ‘The absence of remorse and the continuation of abuse are dead giveaways that the person is a bully.’
    • ‘It's a dead giveaway - we know you didn't write it.’
    • ‘He just thinks nobody will notice, even though it's a dead giveaway.’
    • ‘Danielle's red and puffy eyes are a dead giveaway.’
    • ‘‘Well, the steam is a dead giveaway,’ came Arthur's dry reply.’
    • ‘The steaming milk in a glass was a dead giveaway.’
    • ‘Sometimes the title is, or should be, a dead giveaway.’
    • ‘Your hair is exactly like your father's - it's a dead giveaway.’
    • ‘I watched her eyes - they were a dead giveaway to her emotions.’
    • ‘Gabby waited a long time before answering, and only did once Justin's breathing grew slow and steady, a dead giveaway that he was sleeping.’
    • ‘Though it's a dead giveaway, whose Bible are we looking at?’
    • ‘The way they answered her question was a dead giveaway.’
    • ‘My jacket doesn't say where it was made, but the label's Chinese characters are a dead giveaway.’

adjective

informal attributive

  • 1Free of charge.

    • ‘giveaway CDs’
    • ‘The contents of the giveaway goody bags were largely related to estrogen replacement.’
    • ‘The giveaway holiday vouchers are a way of drawing everyone's attention to the large sums of money that ex-smokers find themselves with.’
    • ‘Rather than plastic money boxes, giveaway biros or vouchers for DVDs, the Bradford-based mortgage lender decided that something with four wheels might prove a little more persuasive.’
    • ‘The sale is meant to be an opportunity for it to offload items like used basketballs that may just be slightly cracked, old t-shirts and past varsity giveaway items.’
    • ‘It's a pity, too, that your favourite Sunday newspaper can't quite stretch to a giveaway cassette.’
    • ‘If it's a choice between buying a giveaway copy of a book I already own and buying myself something new, well, put it this way… I still have plenty of shelf space to fill.’
    • ‘It's a giveaway paper, to be published by a joint venture of four government-linked corporations (GLCs).’
    • ‘The monthly giveaway sports magazine launched towards the end of last year in a bid to attract new customers will be redesigned before its next edition.’
    • ‘They've identified 12 books for London to give particular prominence to - on posters, in campaigns and on giveaway bookmarks.’
    • ‘He also published on his own, countless commercial giveaway comics and puzzle collections that featured his work.’
    • ‘I was after their giveaway 70s CD which turned out to be OK for a freebie.’
    • ‘With the influx of giveaway papers hitting city streets, Sydney's Lord Mayor plans to introduce a new policy regulating the distribution of newspapers and magazines.’
    • ‘A new giveaway tabloid newspaper has hit the streets of Sydney.’
    cheap, low-priced, low-price, low-cost, economical, economic, competitive, affordable, reasonable, reasonably priced, moderately priced, keenly priced, budget, economy, cheap and cheerful, bargain, cut-rate, cut-price, half-price, sale-price, sale, reduced, on special offer, marked down, discounted, discount, rock-bottom, giveaway
    1. 1.1(of prices) very low.
      • ‘bread at giveaway prices’
      • ‘Everything old has to go to make way for new stock and many more books, for adults and children have been added to the sale at giveaway prices.’
      • ‘The source of that class was the corrupt decision to sell off the state's assets (above all in energy and minerals) at giveaway prices and without open competition, in return for huge kickbacks.’
      • ‘On the other hand, during the colonial era the authorities would try to sell the unclaimed possessions of deceased contract workers and found that there were no buyers, even at giveaway prices.’
      • ‘Traders set up stalls at major venues, openly hawking illegally acquired wares and at giveaway prices.’
      • ‘It was heavily panned in the internet chatrooms, and there were raised eyebrows at what some regarded as a giveaway price.’
      • ‘It has put scarves, pin badges, shirts and other memorabilia up for sale on the internet at giveaway prices.’
      • ‘Because of the way these were unearthed by accident with other posters, they can be offered at the giveaway price of only $15.’
      • ‘Many Jewish businesses had to be sold at giveaway prices in the countryside because they had become illegal, and many Jewish settlers were turned out of their homes.’
      • ‘The valuations suggest that the company cannot be sold for anything other than a giveaway price.’
      • ‘Now and then these old tomes are overpriced, but on occasion you can find fantastic books for giveaway prices.’
      • ‘At a giveaway price, it went to a development company who created what is now the Broadgate centre, a fairly ghastly set of offices with a few shops thrown in.’
      • ‘2002 was an excellent vintage in Germany, and this is an outstanding young Riesling at a giveaway price.’
      • ‘Otherwise, you would always be selling your goods at giveaway prices far below your total production costs.’
      • ‘They also aim to fill their planes as near as possible to capacity, even if it means selling tickets at seemingly giveaway prices.’
      • ‘Prices were near giveaway and around $750 got the buyer a trainer of his choice.’
      • ‘He was initially against giveaway ticket prices.’
      • ‘I'm pretty happy with how this competition turned out, so I might try it again in the future if an appropriate giveaway object presents itself.’
      • ‘This plays runs for 50 minutes and the giveaway admission of €4 includes a raffle for a Christmas ham.’
      inexpensive, low-priced, low-price, low-cost, economical, economic, competitive, affordable, reasonable, reasonably priced, moderately priced, keenly priced, budget, economy, cheap and cheerful, bargain, cut-rate, cut-price, half-price, sale-price, sale, reduced, on special offer, marked down, discounted, discount, rock-bottom, giveaway

  • 2Inadvertently revealing something.

    • ‘small giveaway mannerisms’
    • ‘But the new campaign is in parts economical with factual information - even if the giveaway answers are buried elsewhere in the pamphlet.’
    • ‘Those last images of him in 1993 before his enforced retirement with his bloated face and blotched, spotty, wretched complexion, a giveaway sign of the soon to be irretrievably poisoned liver, were sad indeed.’
    • ‘Even without such giveaway settings, the Canadian accent and humour still would exude unmistakeably from a huge proportion of playwriting.’
    • ‘Unfortunately the plot of the film tends at times to be almost giveaway, there is little suspense and few surprises except in the effects and action.’
    • ‘The new virus makes its way into computers through an email attachment and is less obvious than previous viruses due to a lack of giveaway signs.’
    • ‘But that means there's still that giveaway jerkiness of movement.’
    • ‘Immediately, the giveaway signs of serious sickness were flashing.’
    • ‘When a bug has fed it emits a sickly sweet smell to attract hungry relatives: a giveaway sign of infestation.’
    • ‘He's reading their bodies, all the little giveaway tics and touches we have.’
    revealing, revelatory, suggestive, meaningful, significant, meaning, indicative