doorbuster

doorbuster — noun

1. A product that a shop sells at an extremely low price for a short time, mainly t

1.nounB1
Definition

A product that a shop sells at an extremely low price for a short time, mainly to get people into the store, where the business hopes they will also buy other items at normal prices.

Example

The electronics store offered a doorbuster deal on the latest gaming console for Black Friday.

collocation: doorbuster deal

Shoppers camped outside the mall overnight hoping to grab the doorbuster items before they sold out.

collocation: doorbuster items / sold out

Common collocations
  • doorbuster deal
  • doorbuster sale
  • doorbuster price
  • doorbuster item
  • doorbuster special
  • doorbuster promotion
  • doorbuster event
Synonyms
  • loss leader

    A product sold at a loss to attract customers; more specific — doorbusters may or may not be sold at an actual loss.

  • special offer

    A broader term covering any temporary price reduction, not necessarily an extremely low price meant to lure people into the store.

  • discount item

    General; may refer to any reduced-price product without the urgency or door-opening strategy implied by doorbuster.

Grammar Patterns

doorbuster + noun (used attributively)

Usage Note

Common in advertising and news reports about major shopping events such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or end-of-season clearance sales. Frequently used as an adjective before nouns like deal, price, item, special, and sale.

Common Mistakes

The store is doorbusting all electronics this weekend.
The store is offering doorbuster deals on all electronics this weekend.
doorbuster is a noun and an attributive modifier, not a verb.
I bought a doorbuster from the street vendor.
I bought a doorbuster from the department store during the sale.
doorbusters are officially advertised promotions from established retailers, not random items from street vendors.

Word family

  • doorbusters
    noun (plural)B1
  • door-busting
    adjectiveB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

A doorbuster is a heavily discounted product used specifically to draw customers into a physical or online store, often limited in quantity or time. A loss leader goes further — the store deliberately sells it below cost to get people through the door, accepting a short-term loss in exchange for profit on other purchases. A special offer is any temporary price cut; it could be modest (10% off) and does not carry the urgency or door-opening strategy of a doorbuster. A discount item is simply anything sold at a reduced price, with no implication of being a promotional magnet. For example, a store might advertise a doorbuster on a TV for Black Friday, run special offers on accessories, and have a clearance rack of discount items year-round.

doorbuster ↗loss leaderspecial offerdiscount item

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • doorbuster promotion
  • doorbuster event
  • doorbuster special
  • doorbuster sale

Prepositions

  • on a doorbuster
  • for a doorbuster

Etymology

EnglishAmerican English

The word doorbuster was formed in the 1990s from door + buster (a person who breaks something). The idea is that the discount is so good that customers will 'bust the doors down' to get into the store before the item sells out. It became especially common in American retail marketing during the rise of Black Friday mega-sales.