fee
Americannoun
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fees
plural
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a charge or payment for professional services.
a doctor's fee.
- Synonyms:
- honorarium, emolument, salary, stipend
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a sum paid or charged for a privilege.
an admission fee.
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a charge allowed by law for the service of a public officer.
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Law.
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an estate of inheritance in land, either absolute and without limitation to any particular class of heirs fee simple or limited to a particular class of heirs fee tail.
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an inheritable estate in land held of a feudal lord on condition of the performing of certain services.
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a territory held in fee.
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a gratuity; tip.
verb (used with object)
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to give a fee to.
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Chiefly Scot. to hire; employ.
noun
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a payment asked by professional people or public servants for their services
a doctor's fee
school fees
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a charge made for a privilege
an entrance fee
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property law
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an interest in land capable of being inherited See fee simple fee tail
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the land held in fee
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(in feudal Europe) the land granted by a lord to his vassal
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an obsolete word for a gratuity
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law (of land) in absolute ownership
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archaic in complete subjection
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verb
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rare to give a fee to
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to hire for a fee
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of fee
1250–1300; Middle English < Anglo-French; Old French fie, variant of fief fief. See feudal
Explanation
A fee is the cost of something, or the amount of money charged. You might need to pay a fee when you visit your favorite state park. Clubs, national parks, and gyms all charge a fee to belong or to enter. There is also the fee that a professional charges for services, like the legal fee you pay when you hire an attorney or the fee you pay your dentist to clean your teeth. Fee has an Old French origin in the word fieu, "possession, holding, domain, or payment," from the Medieval Latin feodum, "land whose use is granted in return for service."
Vocabulary lists containing fee
Ratios and Proportional Relationships
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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:
The bank increases its forecasts for management fee pretax profit across its projection period by up to 5% as a result.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
The Federal Maritime Commission plans to impose a fee of $200,000 per port call on Spanish-flagged vessels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Teresa Kuan said that some people prefer the option of pouring their hearts out to a complete stranger for a fee.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Under this policy, mutual funds could newly adopt the fee structures typical of private funds, a 1% or 2% management fee and a performance fee of up to 20%.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
“Madame Ionesco was kind enough to agree to join us after the show, for a modest fee, of course,” Simon explained.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
Recent increases in sewer and trash fees, plus steadily rising water rates and higher summer water use are partly to blame.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
ETF managers say large funds aren’t always cheaper to run, and many investors value certain ETFs for the ease and efficiency of trading, among other factors—not just the lowest fees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
The exact total depends on the timing of your deposits, compounding, taxes and fees.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Many ETFs, however, charge flat management fees, without breakpoints.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
“I’ll be handing out these debate tournament entry forms today after school, and I want you to seriously think about it. The fees will be covered. All you’d need to bring is yourself.”
From "The Benefits of Being an Octopus" by Ann Braden
The unit is ensuring Volodymyr, Grandpa as they call him, has enough to eat - drones drop off food parcels on their way to feed soldiers at the front.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Each year, rice blast destroys enough rice to feed approximately 60 million people.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2026
Apparently, venturing onto Telemundo or NBC’s live feed is a bridge too far.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
And when I emailed a wedding photographer whose Instagram feed seemed perfectly curated to how I envision our special day, he quoted me $30,000 for a starter package.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
Grandpa said, “I have to put the team in a stall and feed and water them. After that, I’ll get us a room and then we’ll go downtown and take care of my business.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
The Glaswegian finished 34th, a result that left her "embarrassed" and feeing as is "she had made a show of herself" according to younger sister Sarah.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2024
Shelters for Ukrainians feeing the Russian invasion, who do not need to apply for asylum in the Netherlands, are also nearly full, he said.
From Reuters ● Aug. 18, 2022
She mixed in stripes and solids to keep rooms from feeing overgrown.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 27, 2022
“It was a helpless feeing sitting there on the sideline not being able to do anything about your position,” he said.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 4, 2021
“Will you report it? I’m not feeing well.”
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
