fee
Americannoun
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fees
plural
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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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
Some advisers also charge a flat fee for planning.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
Malaysia dropped off the calendar because the government there was no longer willing to pay the rights fee, feeling that the expense did not justify the return.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
That fee doesn’t cover production costs for the show, which are shouldered by the licensee of the rights.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Thompson pointed to a similarly unusual situation when the Zimbabwe men's team played a Test in England last year, with the ECB paying the visitors a touring fee.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
The trip was paid for from the $5,000 appearance fee he was getting to compete for the United States in the Olympiad in Varna, Bulgaria.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
In California, municipal utilities face constraints in raising rates under Proposition 218, a ballot initiative passed in 1996 that says fees must reflect the costs of providing service.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
But his supporters also wanted to talk about the high cost of housing - insurance, taxes, mortgage rates and home-owner fees - and healthcare worker shortages.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
“It’s like any other caregiving task. It feels less bad the further you go along. He was actively hurting himself. He had over $1,000 in insufficient-funds fees because he wasn’t keeping track of his spending.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
There were club dues, tournament fees, hotels, transportation, uniforms and equipment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
They had had to sell three or four cows to pay the fees when I went to Kabarak.
From "Facing the Lion" by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton and Herman Viola
Governments’ borrowing costs reset more frequently, so spikes in interest rates feed through to their interest bills faster.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Planting to harvest takes at least nine months, too long for most Filipino farmers who preferred the shorter growing period for beans, squash or bittergourd to feed their families, the farmer added.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
“The detection of rabies in a raccoon is an important reminder to never touch, handle, or feed any wild animals, even when they appear healthy,” said Dr. Muntu Davis, health officer for Los Angeles County.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Cruise’s Digger Rockwell rises from bed and tries to feed his bizarrely acting cat before learning of an explosion on his oil rig in Greenland.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
After I scavenge the whole lot for cans, it’s time to feed my coyote.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
The Glaswegian finished 34th, a result that left her "embarrassed" and feeing as is "she had made a show of herself" according to younger sister Sarah.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2024
Shelters for Ukrainians feeing the Russian invasion, who do not need to apply for asylum in the Netherlands, are also nearly full, he said.
From Reuters ● Aug. 18, 2022
“It was a helpless feeing sitting there on the sideline not being able to do anything about your position,” he said.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 4, 2021
“You can see yourself, so you’re constantly monitoring yourself, feeing self-conscious. I just didn’t feel like I could be as authentic and it took a lot of mental energy, like I was coming into work.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 9, 2021
“Will you report it? I’m not feeing well.”
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
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.
