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:
Palmer - sold by City for £40m in 2023 - would demand a similar fee if he were to leave Stamford Bridge.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
PSG initially sought a fee in the region of £145m while Liverpool want to pay something closer to the £100m mark.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
Instead of billing insurance for routine office visits, they’re charging patients directly through a monthly or annual membership fee, a model known as direct primary care, or DPC.
From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026
For patients, the rise of the DPC model becomes personal the moment their own doctor asks for a membership fee.
From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026
Some of it was paid back immediately because he agreed to be interviewed by a foreign journalist for a fee of $300.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Both of them, signed for nine-figure fees last summer, will know that their overall output and connection must improve over the coming weeks and months.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
Federal legislation took effect this year allowing people with health savings accounts to use those tax-advantaged funds to pay for DPC membership fees.
From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026
"Having a bursary for fourth year to have our tuition fees paid would be extremely beneficial for us."
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Alonso said Delta Finance is owed hundreds of millions in unpaid services fees and dividends that were never disbursed by the government.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
The school fees is Z$800 per term and this is about US$20.
From "I Will Always Write Back" by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda
Once while scrolling, she stopped to admire pictures of a garden on her feed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Worker bees normally feed and care for both queens and developing larvae.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026
West Nile virus survives in nature in several types of birds and is transmitted to humans by the bites of mosquitoes that feed on infected birds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Andrius Banevicius, the public information officer for Connecticut's Department of Correction, recounted how Smith used to feed the birds while in Osborn prison, earning him the nickname The Birdman of Osborn.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
They are intensely curious and study each thing I do as I feed and take care of the dogs.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
On the eve of the United States' 250th birthday, Abdi, like many Americans, is feeing uneasy about the future of his country.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
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
She mixed in stripes and solids to keep rooms from feeing overgrown.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 27, 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
“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.
