fee

[fee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR fee ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a charge or payment for professional services: a doctor's fee.

a sum paid or charged for a privilege: an admission fee.

a charge allowed by law for the service of a public officer.

Law.

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).
an inheritable estate in land held of a feudal lord on condition of the performing of certain services.
a territory held in fee.

a gratuity; tip.

verb (used with object), feed, fee·ing.

to give a fee to.

Chiefly Scot. to hire; employ.

Origin of fee

1250–1300; Middle English < Anglo-French; Old French fie, variant of fief fief. See feudal

Related formsfee·less, adjectiveo·ver·fee, nounsu·per·fee, noun

Synonyms for fee

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR fee ON THESAURUS.COM

1. stipend, salary, emolument; honorarium.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for fee

salary, wage, account, cut, pay, price, bill, share, stipend, commission, compensation, cost, expense, payment, reward, gravy, slice, handle, house, chunk

Examples from the Web for fee

Contemporary Examples of fee

The Federal Duck Stamp Act raised the fee on stamps needed to hunt waterfowl on federal land from $15 to $25.
Nazis, Sunscreen, and Sea Gull Eggs: Congress in 2014 Was Hella Productive
Ben Jacobs
December 29, 2014
Meanwhile CBS announced a similar deal this year that will offer their catalogue of shows online for a monthly fee.
Binge Watching is the New Bonding Time
The Daily Beast
December 10, 2014
Instead, your $25 entry fee gets you a sketchbook that appears handmade.
Blurred Lines at NY Sketchbook Museum
Daniel Genis
November 1, 2014
This fee, however, was not “global” enough to include hospital charges or anything else on a long list of exclusions.
Despite ObamaCare, US Health System Still a Complete Mess
Molly Worthen
October 11, 2014
I began with the simplest cost I could think of, the fee for some routine blood work I had scheduled for later that month.
Despite ObamaCare, US Health System Still a Complete Mess
Molly Worthen
October 11, 2014

Historical Examples of fee

I will enclose the second payment of her fee in a letter which I am writing to her.
Grace Harlowe's Return to Overton Campus
Jessie Graham Flower
I could introduce you to a duchess, but then the fee is high.
Night and Morning, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
The doctor's fee is four and sixpence, and you need not consult him often.
The Channings
Mrs. Henry Wood
Any boy in the school may enter, and there will be no fee collected.
Frank Roscoe's Secret
Allen Chapman
But, as a lawyer—minus the fee—I'll tell you what you should do.
In a Steamer Chair and Other Stories
Robert Barr

British Dictionary definitions for fee

fee

noun

a payment asked by professional people or public servants for their servicesa doctor's fee; school fees

a charge made for a privilegean entrance fee

property law

an interest in land capable of being inheritedSee fee simple, fee tail
the land held in fee

(in feudal Europe) the land granted by a lord to his vassal

an obsolete word for a gratuity

in fee

law(of land) in absolute ownership
archaicin complete subjection

verb fees, feeing or feed

rare to give a fee to

mainly Scot to hire for a fee

Derived Formsfeeless, adjective

Word Origin for fee

C14: from Old French fie, of Germanic origin; see fief

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for fee

late 13c., from Old French fieu, fief "fief, possession, holding, domain; feudal duties, payment," from Medieval Latin feodum "land or other property whose use is granted in return for service," widely said to be from Frankish *fehu-od "payment-estate," or a similar Germanic compound, in which the first element is cognate with Old English feoh "money, movable property, cattle" (also German Vieh "cattle," Gothic faihu "money, fortune"), from PIE *peku- "cattle" (cf. Sanskrit pasu, Lithuanian pekus "cattle;" Latin pecu "cattle," pecunia "money, property"); second element similar to Old English ead "wealth."

OED rejects this, and suggests a simple adaptation of Germanic fehu, leaving the Medieval Latin -d- unexplained. Sense of "payment for services" first recorded late 14c. Fee-simple is "absolute ownership," as opposed to fee-tail "entailed ownership," inheritance limited to some particular class of heirs (second element from Old French taillir "to cut, to limit").