pension

[ pen-shuhn; French pahn-syawn ]

noun

, plural pen·sions [pen, -sh, uh, nz, pah, n, -, syawn].

1. a fixed amount, other than wages, paid at regular intervals to a person or to the person's surviving dependents in consideration of past services, age, merit, poverty, injury or loss sustained, etc.:

   a retirement pension.

2. an allowance, annuity, or subsidy.
3. (in France and elsewhere in continental Europe)
   1. a boardinghouse or small hotel.
   2. room and board.

verb (used with object)

1. to grant or pay a pension to.
2. to cause to retire on a pension (usually followed by off ).

pension

¹

/ pɑ̃sjɔ̃ /

noun

1. a relatively cheap boarding house
2. another name for full board

pension

²

/ ˈpɛnʃən /

noun

1. a regular payment made by the state to people over a certain age to enable them to subsist without having to work
2. a regular payment made by an employer to former employees after they retire
3. a regular payment made to a retired person as the result of his or her contributions to a personal pension scheme
4. any regular payment made on charitable grounds, by way of patronage, or in recognition of merit, service, etc

   a pension paid to a disabled soldier

verb

1. tr to grant a pension to

pension

1. Payments made to a retired person either by the government or by a former employer.

Derived Forms

• ˈpensionable, adjective
• ˈpensionless, adjective

Other Words From

• pension·a·ble adjective
• pension·a·bly adverb
• pension·less adjective
• non·pension·a·ble adjective
• un·pension·a·ble adjective
• un·pensioned adjective
• un·pension·ing adjective
• well-pensioned adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pension¹

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Old French pensïon, from Latin pēnsiōn-, stem of pēnsiō “measured weight,” hence, “payment, rent,” from pēns(us) “weighed” (past participle of pendere “to hang, weigh out, pay by weight”) + -iō -ion

Word History and Origins

Origin of pension¹

C17: French; extended meaning of pension grant; see pension ¹

Origin of pension²

C14: via Old French from Latin pēnsiō a payment, from pendere to pay

Example Sentences

Young says she ultimately lost her health benefits and pension.

From The Daily Beast

He returned home a pauper without a pension and 50 years later, at 70, chronicled the travails of the War of Independence.

From The Daily Beast

But Raimondo ran a targeted, data-driven campaign that, like the pension reforms, was driven by the facts and not by emotion.

From The Daily Beast

Retirees there were already receiving pension checks half the size of what they had been promised.

From The Daily Beast

The pension fund, the union declared, had fallen victim to “a Wall Street coup.”

From The Daily Beast

The governor of the fortress was provided with a safe residence in Egypt, and an annual pension of 75,000 piasters.

From Project Gutenberg

The staff officer replied that a pension of four hundred francs would save them from want in their old age.

From Project Gutenberg

A pension encourages earlier retirement from work, quickens promotion, and vitalises the whole service.

From Project Gutenberg

Everybody in the pension was studying something; we avoided the American church and consulate and even the Baroness L.

From Project Gutenberg

This loyal Irishman afterwards received a pension of four shillings a day.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• allowance
• annuity
• grant
• payment
• premium
• retirement account
• reward
• social security
• subsidy