fee
Americannoun
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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
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.
The poet proposed to himself “A côté de Vénus et du fils de Latone Peindre la fée et la péri.”
From Essays in Little by Lang, Andrew
He had a notion that Morgan la fée would be driven off by that knowledge.
From Louisiana Lou A Western Story by Winter, William West
De Launay, rolling behind, was the recipient of curious and doubtful glances, as the man who was taking their Morgan la fée from them.
From Louisiana Lou A Western Story by Winter, William West
De Launay vaguely recalled occasional mention of a young woman favorably known in the hospitals as Morgan la fée.
From Louisiana Lou A Western Story by Winter, William West
The wild Vale of Avalon, which had seemed such a lovely haven for Morgan la fée, had lost its charm.
From Louisiana Lou A Western Story by Winter, William West
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.