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Synonyms

pay for

British  

verb

  1. to make payment (of) for

  2. (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
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
pay for Idioms  

  1. 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]

  2. 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.

"When I started applying for municipal contracts with the City of Chicago, they wanted me to pay for projects upfront and get reimbursed later. But I didn't have the capital," Traci explains.

From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026

We currently do not pay for childcare, as a relative provides full-time care during the weekdays.

From Barron's • Apr. 8, 2026

We currently do not pay for child care, as a relative provides full-time care during the weekdays.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 8, 2026

A key difference: they have lucrative core businesses that can pay for their AI ambitions.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026

“I didn’t steal any fireworks. Why should I pay for it?”

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

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.