kickback

[kik-bak]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR kickback ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a percentage of income given to a person in a position of power or influence as payment for having made the income possible: usually considered improper or unethical.

a rebate, usually given secretively by a seller to a buyer or to one who influenced the buyer.

the practice of an employer or a person in a supervisory position of taking back a portion of the wages due workers.

a response, usually vigorous.

a sudden, uncontrolled movement of a machine, tool, or other device, as on starting or in striking an obstruction: A kickback from a chain saw can be dangerous.

Origin of kickback

1930–35, Americanism; noun use of verb phrase kick back

Related formsan·ti·kick·back, adjective

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

Related Words for kickback

graft, payment, gift, payoff, cut, share, oil, recompense, percentage, reward, payola

Examples from the Web for kickback

Contemporary Examples of kickback

Another Russian word the actor might learn, the commenters proposed, was raspilit, or "kickback."
Gérard Depardieu After Receiving Russian Citizenship: I Love Putin!
Anna Nemtsova
January 4, 2013
Then Mubarak and his family and their allies would see benefits in return, presumably some kickback or a share of the profits.
Hunting Mubarak's Millions
Philip Shenon
April 18, 2011
My question to the government is this: What constitutes a modern-day bribe or kickback?
More Enrons on the Way
Sherron Watkins
June 29, 2010
Is a perpetrator off the hook because he or she uses the market to pay the kickback?
More Enrons on the Way
Sherron Watkins
June 29, 2010
Meanwhile, he earned the nickname "Mr. Ten Percent" for the kickback he purportedly took on government contracts.
The Playboy Running Pakistan
Nicholas Schmidle
April 30, 2009

Historical Examples of kickback

The "kickback" would have certainly killed or wounded us both.
The Red Watch
J. A. Currie
The nerves of Average Jones gave a sharp "kickback," like a mis-cranked motor-car.
Average Jones
Samuel Hopkins Adams
I want to set down what happened in case there's ever a kickback although I don't think there ever will be.
The Beasts in the Void
Paul W. Fairman

British Dictionary definitions for kickback

kickback

noun

a strong reaction

part of an income paid to a person having influence over the size or payment of the income, esp by some illegal arrangement

verb kick back (adverb)

(intr) to have a strong reaction

(intr) (esp of a gun) to recoil

to pay a kickback to (someone)

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 kickback

also kick-back, c.1900 in various mechanical senses, from kick (v.) + back (adv.). By 1926 in a slang sense of "be forced to return pelf, pay back to victims," which was extended to illegal partial give-backs of government-set wages that were extorted from workers by employers. Hence sense of "illegal or improper payment" (1932).