1. Take action with respect to (someone or something)
   "How are we going to deal with this problem?"; "The teacher knew how to deal with these lazy students"
    
2. Act on verbally or in some form of artistic expression
   "This book deals with incest";
   - cover, treat, handle, plow [N. Amer], address, plough [Brit, Cdn]
    
3. Be in charge of, act on, or dispose of
   "I can deal with this crew of workers";
   - manage, care, handle
    
4. (card game) distribute cards to the players in a game
   "Who's dealing?"
    
5. Give or provide in small portions
   "deal a blow to someone"; "deal out critical remarks to everyone present";
   - distribute, administer, mete out, parcel out, lot, dispense, deal out, dish out, allot, dole out, mete, dole
    
6. Do business; offer for sale as for one's livelihood
   "She deals in gold";
   - sell, trade
    
7. Behave in a certain way towards others
   "He deals fairly with his employees"
    
8. Give out as one's portion or share
   "The partners dealt the profits at the end of the year";
   - share, divvy up [informal], portion out, apportion, divvy [informal]
    
9. (card game) give (a specific card) to a player
   "He dealt me the Queen of Spades"
    
10. Sell (especially of illegal material)
    "deal hashish"
     
11. Direct the course of; manage or control
    "She deals the department efficiently";
    - conduct, carry on
     
12. Engage with and attempt to overcome a difficulty or challenge
    "They're dealing with budget cuts";
    - cope, contend, grapple, manage

1. A particular instance of buying or selling
   "it was a package deal"; "he's a master of the business deal";
   - trade, business deal, transaction
    
2. An agreement between parties (usually arrived at after discussion) fixing obligations of each
   "he rose to prominence through a series of shady deals";
   - bargain
    
3. The type of treatment received (especially as the result of an agreement)
   "he got a good deal on his car"
    
4. The cards held in a card game by a given player at any given time
   "I didn't hold a good deal all evening";
   - hand
    
5. (card game) the act of distributing playing cards
   "the deal was passed around the table clockwise"
    
6. The act of apportioning or distributing something
   "the captain was entrusted with the deal of provisions"
    
7. (often followed by ‘of’) a large number, amount or extent
   "a deal of trouble"; "a great deal of letters"; "They spent a good deal of time on the project";
   - batch, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle [archaic], mountain, muckle, passel [US], peck, pile [informal], plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack [informal], tidy sum, wad, bunch [informal], scad [N. Amer, informal]
    
8. A plank of softwood (fir or pine board)
   "They used deal to construct the simple furniture"
    
9. Wood that is easy to saw (from conifers such as pine or fir)
   "deal is often used in construction for framing and other structural purposes";
   - softwood

Derived forms: deals, dealt, dealing

See also: merchandise

Type of: accumulation, acquit, act, aggregation, agreement, allocation, allotment, apportioning, apportionment, assemblage, assignation, bear, behave, board, broach, carry, collection, command, comport, conduct, control, dealing, dealings, deport, distribute, distribution, do, final result, give, give out, hand, hand out, initiate, large indefinite amount, large indefinite quantity, move, outcome, parceling [US], parcelling, pass, pass on, pass out, plank, reach, result, resultant, transact, transaction, turn over, understanding, wood

Part of: card game, cards

Encyclopedia: Deal, New Jersey