noun
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the act of paying
-
a sum of money paid
-
something given in return; punishment or reward
Other Word Forms
- propayment adjective
Etymology
Origin of payment
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, variant of paiement, from Middle French; equivalent to pay 1 + -ment
Explanation
Payment is the process of either giving money to someone, or of receiving money from someone. If you borrow money to buy a car, you'll be expected to make a monthly payment for several years. Your paycheck itself is a payment, and so is the act of your boss handing you that paycheck. There are also types of payment that don't involve money, like when your payment for watching your little cousin one afternoon consists of a big piece of your uncle's famous apple pie. Payment, from the verb pay, is rooted in the Latin pacare, used to mean "satisfy a creditor," but originally defined as "please, satisfy, or make peaceful."
Vocabulary lists containing payment
"...And Although the Little Mermaid Sacrificed Everything..."
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Century 21 Accounting, 9e, Chapters 8-10
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
About $2.6 million will go toward attorney fees, and the plaintiff will receive a $10,000 incentive payment, according to the settlement.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026
Officials say steps are being taken to ensure timely payment of wages, with provisions such as double pay for overtime and work on weekly rest days.
From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026
For illustration, $1,900 is currently the average individual monthly Social Security payment.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 16, 2026
Coinbase Global retroactively reclassified payment stablecoins as cash equivalents, increasing its 2024 total cash and cash equivalents to $9.3 billion.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026
One day when I returned to her apartment, she took out an entire loaf of bread and cut off a thick slice for me as payment.
From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
