pay off

verb

1. (tr, adverb) to pay all that is due in wages, etc, and discharge from employment

2. (tr, adverb) to pay the complete amount of (a debt, bill, etc)

3. (intr, adverb) to turn out to be profitable, effective, etc

   the gamble paid off

4. to take revenge on (a person) or for (a wrong done)

   to pay someone off for an insult

5. informal,  (tr, adverb) to give a bribe to

6. (intr, adverb) nautical (of a vessel) to make leeway

noun

1. the final settlement, esp in retribution

   the payoff came when the gang besieged the squealer's house

2. informal,  the climax, consequence, or outcome of events, a story, etc, esp when unexpected or improbable

3. the final payment of a debt, salary, etc

4. the time of such a payment

5. informal,  a bribe

Idioms and Phrases

Pay the full amount on a debt or on wages, as in The car's finally paid off , or Les pays off the workers every Friday evening . [Early 1700s]

Produce a profit, as in That gamble did not pay off . [Mid-1900s]

Also, pay off an old score . Get revenge on someone for some grievance, require, as in Jerry was satisfied; he'd paid off his ex-partner when he bought him out at half-price , or Amy went out with her roommate's boyfriend, but she was paying off and old score .

Bribe, as in The owner of the bar paid off the local police so he wouldn't get in trouble for serving liquor to minors . [ Colloquial ; c. 1900]

Example Sentences

There is a possible downside to your girlfriend’s regular and meticulous credit-card payments: By paying off her balance every day, she is reducing her credit-utilization ratio to virtually zero.

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If you are meeting those goals, paying your bills and paying off your credit cards on time, then the rest of your funds are more or less fun money.

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She was caught in a tabloid sting agreeing to sell access to Andrew for £500,000 and also accepted money from Epstein to pay off debts to a former employee.

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The regime pays off billions in loans from China with cheap oil.

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They may be eager to see more proof that the investments will pay off in the near term in the form of higher earnings and fatter profit margins.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• amount 
• award 
• cash 
• deposit 
• disbursement 
• fee 
• outlay 
• pension 
• premium 
• refund 
• reimbursement 
• remittance 
• reparation 
• repayment www.thesaurus.com
• restitution 
• return 
• reward 
• royalty 
• salary 
• settlement