pay for
Britishverb
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to make payment (of) for
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(intr) to suffer or be punished, as for a mistake, wrong decision, etc
in his old age he paid for the laxity of his youth
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Cover the expenses of, defray the cost of, as in I'll pay for your movie ticket , or This truck will pay for itself within a year . [Mid-1300s]
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Atone for, suffer for, as in He may have looked like a good manager, but his successor will end up paying for his mistakes . [Late 1600s]
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 “Silo” co-star on his family’s tight New York City walk-up, living near Gaslight Café and his teamster job to pay for UCLA.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
I said something like: “Please don’t go home. Your child needs oxygen. She has pneumonia. We will figure out a way to pay for this, because we acknowledge what we do is expensive.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
He didn't want to give much away about where he was going to find extra billions for defence, or pay for public services.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Which utility stocks survive the next two years will be decided by whether tech companies or consumers pay for the AI build-out.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Maybe I’ll walk back to the Super Saver later and pay for the peaches properly, he thought, even though he knew he wouldn’t.
From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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.
