paid
Americanverb
verb
-
the past tense and past participle of pay 1
-
to end or destroy
breaking his leg put paid to his hopes of running in the Olympics
Other Word Forms
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The artificial-intelligence build-out has officially begun crossing over to the world of junk bonds, where investors expect to be paid more for taking on bigger risks.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
Pilots usually get paid around $350,000 for each trip.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
In the second half of 2019 alone, Navatek paid a roster of five lobbying shops more than $500,000.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
The dividing line he drew was over how it was paid for.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
It paid a fair wage and included a benefit she had not fully appreciated before: time to herself.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
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.
