consumer price index
noun
: an index measuring the change in the cost of typical wage-earner purchases of goods and services expressed as a percentage of the cost of these same goods and services in some base period
called also cost-of-living index
Examples of consumer price index in a Sentence
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Social Security’s annual COLA adjustments are currently based on a subset of the consumer price index — the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W, which tracks price changes for goods and services bought by certain workers.
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Lorie Konish, CNBC, 30 Oct. 2025
That’s after the consumer price index for September inched up but came in below forecasts, clearing the way for the Fed to focus more on the maximum-employment side of its mandate than the inflation-fighting side.
—Jason Ma, Fortune, 26 Oct. 2025
The report by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the consumer price index increased by 0.3% during September in comparison to August, rising 3% in contrast to last September.
—Naomi Lim, The Washington Examiner, 26 Oct. 2025
An automatic cost-of-living adjustment was added to Social Security benefits in 1975 that ties the adjustment to the consumer price index, meant to help benefits keep up with inflation.
—Corina Vanek, AZCentral.com, 25 Oct. 2025
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Lorie Konish, CNBC, 30 Oct. 2025
That’s after the consumer price index for September inched up but came in below forecasts, clearing the way for the Fed to focus more on the maximum-employment side of its mandate than the inflation-fighting side.
—Jason Ma, Fortune, 26 Oct. 2025
The report by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the consumer price index increased by 0.3% during September in comparison to August, rising 3% in contrast to last September.
—Naomi Lim, The Washington Examiner, 26 Oct. 2025
An automatic cost-of-living adjustment was added to Social Security benefits in 1975 that ties the adjustment to the consumer price index, meant to help benefits keep up with inflation.
—Corina Vanek, AZCentral.com, 25 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for consumer price index
Cite this Entry
“Consumer price index.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consumer%20price%20index. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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