reward
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to recompense or requite (a person or animal) for service, merit, achievement, etc.
- Synonyms:
- remunerate, pay, compensate
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to make return for or requite (service, merit, etc.); recompense.
noun
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something given or received in return for a deed or service rendered
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a sum of money offered, esp for help in finding a criminal or for the return of lost or stolen property
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profit or return
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something received in return for good or evil; deserts
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psychol any pleasant event that follows a response and therefore increases the likelihood of the response recurring in the future
verb
Synonym Usage
Reward, prize, recompense imply something given in return for good. A reward is something given or done in return for good (or, more rarely, evil) received; it may refer to something abstract or concrete: a $50 reward; Virtue is its own reward. Prize refers to something concrete offered as a reward of merit, or to be contested for and given to the winner: to win a prize for an essay. A recompense is something given or done, whether as reward or punishment, for acts performed, services rendered, etc.; or it may be something given in compensation for loss or injury suffered, etc.: Renown was his principal recompense for years of hard work.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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overrewardverb
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unrewardedadjective
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rewardernoun
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rewardablenessnoun
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rewardablyadverb
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rewardlessadjective
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unrewardableadjective
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rewardableadjective
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superrewardverb (used with object)
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well-rewardedadjective
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misrewardverb (used with object)
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has rewardedperfect 3rd person singular
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have rewardedperfect
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am rewardingprogressive 1st person singular
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has been rewardingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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rewardingparticiple
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are rewardingprogressive
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have been rewardingperfect progressive
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is rewardingprogressive 3rd person singular
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rewardssingular 3rd person
Past
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had rewardedperfect
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was rewardingprogressive singular
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had been rewardingperfect progressive
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rewardedparticiple
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were rewardingprogressive plural
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rewardedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of reward
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English (verb) rewarden originally, “to regard,” from Old North French rewarder “to look at,” variant of Old French reguarder; see origin at regard
Explanation
A reward is something you get for a job well done. If you study hard for that vocabulary test, an "A" might be the reward in your future. You can use reward as a verb, as when the mayor rewards a firefighter who saves a family from a terrible blaze, or as a noun, to talk about the actual payment or item that's given to the firefighter. People often offer a reward for the return of lost or stolen things, like bicycles or jewelry or dogs. Reward meant "a regarding" or "an observation" in the 1300's, but it soon came to mean "repayment for some service."
Vocabulary lists containing reward
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.
His fate isn’t a reward; it’s a punishment.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026
To live openly as an LGBTQ+ person in a hostile culture is to choose authenticity over safety, and truth over social reward.
From Salon • Jun. 5, 2026
Under normal circumstances, Cerity Partners chief market strategist Jim Lebenthal explained, IPO underwriters are incentivized to reward their most important institutional customers with allocations.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 5, 2026
Researchers also considered evidence showing that GLP-1 receptors are present in brain regions involved in reward processing.
From Science Daily • Jun. 3, 2026
When he thought of it that way, he realized that complex modern financial markets were as good as designed to reward a person with Asperger’s who took an interest in them.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
