dues-paying

American  

[dooz-pey-ing, dyooz-] / ˈduzˌpeɪ ɪŋ, ˈdjuz- /

adjective

1. gaining experience, especially by hard and often unpleasant or uncongenial work.

   He spent his dues-paying years as a cocktail pianist.

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noun

1. the act or process of gaining experience, especially slowly and laboriously.

   She had many years of dues-paying before her abilities were recognized.

Etymology

Origin of dues-paying

First recorded in 1860–70

Example Sentences

Some Nest owners were surprised to learn that, yep, even if you aren’t paying for cloud storage, your recordings could still be floating around Google servers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 12, 2026

In other words, AI believers aren’t paying attention to free cash flow yield, a valuable metric to gauge a company’s current performance.

From Barron's • Dec. 6, 2025

And the most dangerous are the ones to which investors aren’t paying close attention.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 3, 2025

Most people aren’t paying attention to what’s on page 500 of the budget bill.

From Salon • Aug. 1, 2025

The man from the truck said, “Glad to hear it, but they aren’t paying us for excuses. They gave you enough cash to pay good money, so go find somebody!”

From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson