paid
Americanverb
verb
-
the past tense and past participle of pay 1
-
to end or destroy
breaking his leg put paid to his hopes of running in the Olympics
Other Word Forms
Explanation
Something that's paid is done in exchange for money, or happens while you're receiving pay. For example, your job might offer paid vacation, when you get your usual pay but don't have to work. Paid work is anything you do for pay, whether it's babysitting your cousin for ten dollars, or a job at a law firm that provides a weekly paycheck. When people are described as paid, it clarifies the fact that they're working for money — like a paid FBI informant, or a paid companion for an elderly man. Paid comes from the verb pay, which meant "pacify or please" long before it came to mean "give what is due."
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.
The country’s investment-income surplus, the difference between income earned on international financial assets and paid on international liabilities, narrowed by C$4.93 billion from the prior quarter to C$2.45 billion.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026
Modernizing the department’s aging computer systems, outfitting officers with body cameras and purchases of new drones were all paid for through charitable donations in recent decades.
From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026
“It’s an all-volunteer effort in Montana, we don’t have any paid signature gatherers, and it’s something that hasn’t been seen in a couple of decades here,” Mangan said.
From Salon • May 28, 2026
Workers at SK hynix received bonuses more than three times larger than those paid by Samsung last year, according to Samsung's union.
From Barron's • May 28, 2026
By the time Mr. van Woerden paid the formal call on Father, Father had rehearsed and polished his little speech of blessing a dozen times.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
