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• pay-as-you-go
  pay-as-you-go

  noun

  the principle or practice of paying for goods and services at the time of purchase, rather than relying on credit.
• pay as you go
  pay as you go

  Pay for purchases immediately instead of deferring payment. For example, Ruth and Bob had no credit cards; they believed in paying as you go. [First half of 1800s]

pay-as-you-go

American  

[pey-uhz-yoo-goh] / ˈpeɪ əz jʊˈgoʊ /

noun

1. the principle or practice of paying for goods and services at the time of purchase, rather than relying on credit.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or based on such a principle or practice.

   a pay-as-you-go budget.

pay as you go Idioms  

1. Pay for purchases immediately instead of deferring payment. For example, Ruth and Bob had no credit cards; they believed in paying as you go. [First half of 1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of pay-as-you-go

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pay-as-you-go pay as you go

The council has now warned rail passengers to check whether a cheaper travel option is available to them before using pay-as-you-go.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

TfW said it was exploring a pilot to allow eligible railcards to be linked to pay-as-you-go accounts, and hoped to introduce child fares in future, but said further development was needed.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

Standard licensing models between large AI companies and individual news organizations include guaranteed fees and are generally tied to broad access to content, rather than a pay-as-you-go model.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Exceeding the usage cap switches the user to pay-as-you-go rates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

The dealers—led by Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs—came up with a clever solution: the pay-as-you-go credit default swap.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Among her priorities, Alexander said there will be more trials of pay as you go as well as more innovation around the use of AI to improve passenger experience and efficiency.

From BBC ● Jan. 20, 2025

Forget these tired old debates about balancing priorities and revenues and pay as you go.

From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2016

Like most "pay as you go" mobile games, there are several types of resources you need to progress.

From The Verge ● Aug. 4, 2014

America’s Pre-Pay Market Becomes Competitive One thing I am surprised about when I travel to the US is the relative lack of competition in the pre-ay / pay as you go market.

From Forbes ● Mar. 25, 2013

It is the rare exception now to "own what you have" and to "pay as you go."

From Usury A Scriptural, Ethical and Economic View by Calvin Elliott