paid

American  

[peyd] / peɪd /

verb

1. a simple past tense and past participle of pay.

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paid British  

/ peɪd /

verb

1. the past tense and past participle of pay 1

2. to end or destroy

   breaking his leg put paid to his hopes of running in the Olympics

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paid Idioms  

1. see under pay.

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Other Word Forms

• nonpaid adjective
• self-paid adjective
• unpaid adjective
• well-paid adjective

Explanation

Something that's paid is done in exchange for money, or happens while you're receiving pay. For example, your job might offer paid vacation, when you get your usual pay but don't have to work. Paid work is anything you do for pay, whether it's babysitting your cousin for ten dollars, or a job at a law firm that provides a weekly paycheck. When people are described as paid, it clarifies the fact that they're working for money — like a paid FBI informant, or a paid companion for an elderly man. Paid comes from the verb pay, which meant "pacify or please" long before it came to mean "give what is due."

Example Sentences

Hemmings, 40, and her husband, Steve, 38, had paid Figg almost £100,000 to build the office and extend their house in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, in 2021.

From BBC • Apr. 24, 2026

Brokers and agents get paid commissions for each new Medicare Advantage subscriber they sign up, and a lesser amount for renewals.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 24, 2026

Their profits mainly came from the spread between the interest they paid on those borrowings and the higher rates they charged on floating-rate loans to their corporate borrowers.

From Barron's • Apr. 24, 2026

The most paid for a sports trading card was $12.932 million for a 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs signed card featuring Bryant and Michael Jordan last fall.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 24, 2026

We rushed up to the box office and he paid for our ten-cent seats.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Related Words

• compensated
• salaried