bonus
Americannoun
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bonuses
plural
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something given or paid over and above what is due.
- Synonyms:
- gift, honorarium, reward
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a sum of money granted or given to an employee, a returned soldier, etc., in addition to regular pay, usually in appreciation for work done, length of service, accumulated favors, etc.
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something free, as an extra dividend, given by a corporation to a purchaser of its securities.
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a premium paid for a loan, contract, etc.
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something extra or additional given freely.
Every purchaser of a pound of coffee received a box of cookies as a bonus.
noun
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something given, paid, or received above what is due or expected
a Christmas bonus for all employees
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an extra dividend allotted to shareholders out of profits
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insurance a dividend, esp a percentage of net profits, distributed to policyholders either annually or when the policy matures
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a slang word for a bribe
Synonym Usage
Bonus, bounty, premium refer to something extra beyond a stipulated payment. A bonus is a gift to reward performance, paid either by a private employer or by a government: a bonus based on salary; a soldiers' bonus. A bounty is a public aid or reward offered to stimulate interest in a specific purpose or undertaking and to encourage performance: a bounty for killing wolves. A premium is usually something additional given as an inducement to buy, produce, or the like: a premium received with a magazine subscription. See also present 2.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bonus
1765–75; < Latin: good
Explanation
A bonus is something extra, a benefit beyond what is expected. If you get a bonus at work, it could be extra money or another type of reward for a job well done. A bonus is usually extra financial compensation that is above and beyond an employee's normal base salary or hourly wage. Some other types of employee bonuses are stock options, gift cards, or extra paid time off. But a bonus doesn't have to be related to work. It can be any extra benefit — like a rebate from an insurance company for making no claims in a year. Or it can be something as simple as a warm smile from your favorite teacher as she returns your essay with an A+ on the top.
Vocabulary lists containing bonus
Personal Finance and Financial Literacy - Introductory
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Personal Finance and Financial Literacy - High School
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Personal Finance and Financial Literacy - Middle School
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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 bill also provides bonus credits for independent productions, as well as projects that film in federally-declared disaster areas or rural qualified opportunity zones, which Scott said would include parts of South Carolina.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
General Mills said McNabb, 50 years old, will receive a base salary of $1.35 million as CEO, along with an annual bonus with a target of 180% of her base pay.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
"I think we still have a chance to win that league… and then they have to pay me the bonus and give me the medal."
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
People spent their bonus and went back to using the U.S. dollar.
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026
"Tight schedule, too, and a fat bonus if we finish early."
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
Management disclosed that bonuses could weigh on this metric in the November quarter but that conditions should improve in the quarters that follow.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
The LRD payroll tracks a team’s real-time salary commitments for the current season, accounting for the 26-man MLB roster’s base salaries plus a prorated portion of signing bonuses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
One job ad in the Moscow area offers salaries starting at 240,000 rubles a month, equivalent to nearly $3,000, plus signing and performance bonuses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
Average wage growth, including bonuses, eased to 3.9% between May and July, according to the Office for National Statistics.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
He paid the Standard staff huge bonuses and asked them all to take a long leave.
From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
