payroll

American  

[pey-rohl] / ˈpeɪˌroʊl /

noun

• payrolls
  plural

1. a list of employees to be paid, with the amount due to each.

2. the sum total of these amounts.

3. the actual money on hand for distribution.

   The bandits got away with the payroll.

4. the total number of people employed by a business firm or organization.

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verb (used with object)

1. to fund or subsidize.

   to be payrolled by the State Department.

payroll British  

/ ˈpeɪˌrəʊl /

noun

1. a list of employees, specifying the salary or wage of each

2. 1. the total of these amounts or the actual money equivalent

   2. ( as modifier )

      a payroll tax

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• payrolls
  plural

Etymology

Origin of payroll

First recorded in 1765–75; pay ¹ + roll

Explanation

A company's payroll is a complete list of everyone who works there and how much money they make. The small coffee shop where you work might have just four employees on its payroll. Any business or organization with a paid staff has a payroll. A school's payroll might include the principal, teachers, office workers, school nurse, and maintenance workers, for example. You can also use the term payroll for the entire amount of money that a company pays its workers over the course of a year, or for the department that calculates these salaries and hands out paychecks.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

payroll payrolls

This means that far from a one-and-done fix, monkeying with the payroll tax would have to be part of a broader discussion about taxation, eligibility and benefit levels.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

“To violate the payroll system they have, it’s a serious offense. The owners are the ones that have pushed for these cost controls and they have to live up to them.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

Officials warn in the documents that the center "could be unable to make payroll or pay routine maintenance contracts" within weeks, the Post reported.

From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026

Using data from payroll processor ADP, the economists found that from the end of 2020 to the end of last year, 34% of workers’ wages didn’t keep up with inflation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

"If Kimbro needs him," MacDuffy told the boy, "come back and have his name entered on the shipping department's payroll."

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison

While the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9%, the number of vacancies and employees on payrolls fell in recent months.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

The comments come as investors prepare for the release of US non-farm payrolls figures later Friday, and the consumer price index next week -- which are seen as crucial to what the Fed announces.

From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026

ADP private payrolls figures on Wednesday contributed to bringing down rate-hike expectations as investors await Friday’s key monthly nonfarm payrolls data.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

U.S. nonfarm payrolls due this week could influence interest rate bets for the Fed’s coming September meeting, says Konstantinos Chrysikos of Kudo.com.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

"Are you on the payrolls of this company?"

From The Rules of the Game by Stewart Edward White

Related Words

• amount
• budget
• charge
• consumption
• debt
• expenditure
• insurance
• investment
• liability
• loan
• loss
• mortgage
• obligation
• outlay
• price
• price tag
• rate
• risk
• spending
• sum