buy-in

See also: buy in

English

Etymology 1

Deverbal from buy in.

Noun

buy-in (countable and uncountable, plural buy-ins)

1. Support; agreement; blessing (in a secular sense).

   Synonyms: alignment, approval

   To win, I need to get buy-in from the team to have alignment with our mission.

   Let's show the idea around and get buy-in from marketing.

   • 2022 November 17, Paul Salopek, “A ‘Slow Storytelling’ Writing and Photography Workshop Boosts Conservation in China”, in National Geographic‎^[1]:

     China’s newly minted national parks don’t just safeguard famous keystone species such as Siberian tigers, giant pandas and Hainan gibbons. They are also designed to preserve the shrinking ecosystems that support such iconic wildlife, ranging from sweltering (tropical jungles in the southern province of Hainan to the chilly maple forests of northern Heilongjiang and Jilin Provinces bordering Siberia. As in any country, getting human buy-in for such protected spaces is essential. Visitors and local populations need to comprehend—and support—the importance of setting aside lands for biodiversity.

2. (poker) A tournament where a player must purchase all of his or her chips before the tournament starts.
3. (poker) The amount that a player buys in for
   • 1983, David M. Hayano, Poker faces: the life and work of professional card players:

     When tournament players are eliminated but remain eager to win back their buy-in, side games often develop and upstage tournament play with limits exceeding those in the tournament.

Coordinate terms

• (poker tournament): rebuy, cash game, sit-and-go

Translations

support

• Dutch: steun (nl)
• French: support (fr) m
• Galician: aprobación (gl) m
• German: Unterstützung (de) f
• Ido: suportilo (io)
• Romanian: susținere (ro) f
• Russian: подде́ржка (ru) f (poddéržka)
• Spanish: soporte (es) m

Etymology 2

From buy + -in.

Noun

buy-in (plural buy-ins)

1. A protest in which participants buy an item and return it soon after in order to slow down the store's operations.
   • 2025 November 24, Giulia Carbonaro, “Home Depot Hit by ‘ICE Scraper’ Protest As Dozens Line Up To Buy 17¢ Item”, in Newsweek‎^[2], archived from the original on 24 November 2025:

     Protests against Home Depot’s alleged involvement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) worksite raids have taken the form of disruptive “buy-ins” in at least one California store, with people lining up to purchase 17-cent ice scrapers only to return them immediately. […] According to the Los Angeles Times, nearly one hundred people participated in the “buy-in” action.