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
-
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.
-
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:
This is an account in which savers can build up a deposit, with the government topping up contributions of up to £4,000 each year with a 25% bonus.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
Fleurijean had initially come to Springfield enticed by a recruitment bonus from Amazon.
From Slate ● Oct. 26, 2026
Chase and Citi have introduced lifetime bonus limits, while American Express uses dedicated analysts to sniff out “rewards leakage” and abuse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
Any random windfalls, such as a tax refund or work bonus, should also go toward paying off your credit-card bill.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2026
“First, I want a fifty-million-dollar bonus when I find the egg for you guys. Not twenty-five. Is that doable?”
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
The previously undisclosed payments had come to light the previous August when the government banned Yorkshire Water and five other water companies from paying "unfair" bonuses to bosses.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
They tapped Habba, who was still working at the Justice Department, and allegedly offered her $10 million a year for four years and at least $10 million in bonuses.
From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2026
On Tuesday, data showed weekly earnings growth, excluding bonuses, rising in the three months through August.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
Upper secondary teachers in France last year on average earned the equivalent of $69,000 annually, bonuses and allowances included, according to the OECD.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
Graham Salter said there’d be fat bonuses all around.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
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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.
