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.
Though the third installment of the fest has been cut down from 11 days to six, the amount of talent jammed into that week doesn’t appear to have slimmed down much at all.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2026
If a person arranges an installment plan, Bandebo noted that’s not reflected as a delinquent payment.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 25, 2026
The final Cal Hooper installment is an elegy to both a lost girl and a vanishing way of life.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026
They released the first installment of the first-person military shooting game in 2003.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026
There were poems and jokes, and LeeAnn had surprised everybody with a completely creepy mystery story that had a new installment every week.
From "The Landry News" by Andrew Clements
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.
