tax

[ taks ]
See synonyms for tax on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services, levied upon incomes, property, sales, etc.

  2. a burdensome charge, obligation, duty, or demand.

verb (used with object)
  1. (of a government)

    • to demand a tax from (a person, business, etc.).

    • to demand a tax in consideration of the possession or occurrence of (income, goods, sales, etc.), usually in proportion to the value of money involved.

  2. to lay a burden on; make serious demands on: to tax one's resources.

  1. to take to task; censure; reprove; accuse: to tax one with laziness.

  2. Informal. to charge: What did he tax you for that?

  3. Archaic. to estimate or determine the amount or value of.

verb (used without object)
  1. to levy taxes.

Origin of tax

1
First recorded in 1250–1300; (for the verb) Middle English taxen, from Medieval Latin taxāre, from Latin: “to appraise, charge, estimate,” literally, “to touch repeatedly,” from tangere “to touch”; noun derivative of the verb

Other words for tax

Other words from tax

  • taxer, noun
  • tax·ing·ly, adverb
  • taxless, adjective
  • tax·less·ly, adverb
  • tax·less·ness, noun
  • an·ti·tax, adjective
  • non·tax, noun, adjective
  • non·tax·er, noun
  • pro·tax, adjective
  • re·tax, verb (used with object)
  • self-taxed, adjective
  • sub·tax·er, noun
  • un·der·taxed, adjective
  • un·tax, verb (used with object)
  • well-taxed, adjective

Words that may be confused with tax

Other definitions for tax- (2 of 2)

tax-

  1. variant of taxo- before a vowel: taxeme.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use tax in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for tax

tax

/ (tæks) /


noun
  1. a compulsory financial contribution imposed by a government to raise revenue, levied on the income or property of persons or organizations, on the production costs or sales prices of goods and services, etc

  2. a heavy demand on something; strain: a tax on our resources

verb(tr)
  1. to levy a tax on (persons, companies, etc, or their incomes, etc)

  2. to make heavy demands on; strain: to tax one's intellect

  1. to accuse, charge, or blame: he was taxed with the crime

  2. to determine (the amount legally chargeable or allowable to a party to a legal action), as by examining the solicitor's bill of costs: to tax costs

  3. slang to steal

Origin of tax

1
C13: from Old French taxer, from Latin taxāre to appraise, from tangere to touch

Derived forms of tax

  • taxer, noun
  • taxless, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with tax

tax

In addition to the idiom beginning with tax

  • tax with

also see:

  • death and taxes

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.