installment
1 Americannoun
-
Finance. any of several parts into which a debt or other sum payable is divided for payment at successive fixed times; the scheduled periodic payment made on an installment loan.
to pay for furniture in monthly installments.
-
a single portion of something furnished or issued by parts at successive times.
a magazine serial in six installments.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of installment1
First recorded in 1770–75; in- 2 + obsolete (e)stallment, equivalent to estall “to arrange payment on an installment plan” (perhaps from Anglo-French ) + -ment
Origin of installment2
Explanation
An installment is a part or section of something, like the monthly installment you pay on your credit card debt or the latest installment of your favorite TV show. "Partial payment" is the oldest meaning of this word, and it's still a common way to use it: "She sold me the bike and I'm paying her in installments." It's also used for anything split into sections or episodes. Your favorite serialized comic comes out in installments every three months, but you only have to wait a day for the next installment of that afternoon soap opera!
Vocabulary lists containing installment
All My Rage
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Chapter 25: The Jazz Age
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Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet
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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.
Sébastien Vaniček, a French filmmaker of vigor if not vibrancy, is the fourth director to pick up the series, now on its sixth installment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Couple that, too, with Rockstar Games’ recent declaration that there will be no physical release for Grand Theft Auto VI, which may be the most widely anticipated franchise installment ever.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
But the seventh installment, “Minions & Monsters,” is expected to have a slower opening weekend than any of the previous films, raising questions as to whether “franchise fatigue” might be setting in.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
But DC’s latest installment lands like a big hunk of Kryptonite for the dream of a superhero franchise that can transcend the genre’s clichés, Slate’s Dana Stevens writes.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
He had bought it on the installment plan to be paid for over a period of two years.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
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.
