noun
-
the act of paying
-
a sum of money paid
-
something given in return; punishment or reward
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Some of the transactions are settled on China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, or CIPS, a yuan-denominated alternative to the Swift messaging network.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 24, 2026
Payment apps give kids another avenue beyond mobile banking, and for some Gen Alpha teens picking up casual work, they offer a different way to get paid.
From MarketWatch • May 29, 2026
China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System has been expanding its reach, though its transaction volume remains a fraction of America’s payment system Swift.
From Barron's • May 27, 2026
More than half of this is spent on the Adult Disability Payment, and the Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts that one million Scots will be in receipt of a disability payment of some kind by 2031.
From BBC • May 21, 2026
‘I shan’t forget. Payment is only put off. Leg it!’
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
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.
