pension

[pen-shuhn, pahn-syawn]

noun

plural

pensions 

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 byoff ).

pension

¹

/ 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

²

/ pɑ̃sjɔ̃ /

noun

1. a relatively cheap boarding house

2. another name for full board

pension

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

Other Word Forms

• pensionable adjective
• pensionably adverb
• pensionless adjective
• nonpensionable adjective
• unpensionable adjective
• unpensioned adjective
• unpensioning adjective
• well-pensioned 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

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

Origin of pension²

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

Example Sentences

I am eligible to retire in 18 months with a full pension on one of my two state retirement plans and can take a very small early penalty on my second one.

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But Guven is worried that her pension will be delayed by the shutdown and potential worker shortages.

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Policymakers, regulators, insurers and pension funds should take note: If science delivers on its promise, people could live a decade or more longer—and those years would be spent in good health.

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The model has generated outsize gains for some investors in the years since the financial crisis, especially institutions like pension funds and high-net-worth individuals.

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Institutional investors such as pension funds and hedge funds typically crave more information on the companies they follow, not less.

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Related Words

• allowance 
• annuity 
• grant 
• payment 
• premium 
• retirement account www.thesaurus.com
• reward 
• social security 
• subsidy