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.
See Examples For:
Meta has said Muse includes privacy protections and the AI agent can’t see people’s passwords or payment methods.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
She said: "In good faith, I continued to teach my classes without any news on when or if payment would be made. I have heard absolutely nothing since."
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
“It can be trade. It can be supply chains, the various financial payment systems. To be sovereign, I have to diversify, and therefore I need partners.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
You can enter various login credentials in a vault in the app, and you can pay for things via Link, an A.I.-forward payment platform.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026
On top of that, probation officers in most states can require that an individual dedicate 35 percent of his or her income toward the payment of fines, fees, surcharges, and restitution charged by numerous agencies.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
The bank has since returned our last two Social Security checks to the Social Security Administration, leaving us with no income to buy food or make our mortgage payments.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
The Amsterdam-based payments provider named Niclas Neglen, who joins from online-payments company Klarna, as its next finance chief.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
His latest report said health-related economic inactivity was costing Britain around £210bn a year in benefit payments and lost output.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Kao told the FBI that the lawmakers, lobbyists and Navatek brass understood these donations were bribes and that the payments were essential to the entire scheme.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
A week after mailing in the last payments, several migrants go back to her office to see how things are going.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
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.
