pay off
Britishverb
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(tr, adverb) to pay all that is due in wages, etc, and discharge from employment
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(tr, adverb) to pay the complete amount of (a debt, bill, etc)
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(intr, adverb) to turn out to be profitable, effective, etc
the gamble paid off
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to take revenge on (a person) or for (a wrong done)
to pay someone off for an insult
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informal (tr, adverb) to give a bribe to
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(intr, adverb) nautical (of a vessel) to make leeway
noun
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the final settlement, esp in retribution
the payoff came when the gang besieged the squealer's house
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informal the climax, consequence, or outcome of events, a story, etc, esp when unexpected or improbable
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the final payment of a debt, salary, etc
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the time of such a payment
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informal a bribe
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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]
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Produce a profit, as in That gamble did not pay off . [Mid-1900s]
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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 .
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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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
While there is hope that Rutte's tactics will pay off again in Ankara -- among some there is a sense that it's just a sticking plaster solution.
From Barron's • Jul. 6, 2026
"He said he needed to pay off his death duties of his mother after she'd died earlier that year," she said.
From BBC • Jul. 4, 2026
Investing in the artificial-intelligence trade takes nerves of steel these days, with ever-cloudy visibility into whether all the money being invested will ultimately pay off.
From MarketWatch • Jul. 2, 2026
Robert Lee and his wife, Judi, live on the top floor of their 46-year-old son’s home in Auburn, Maine, in part so they can pay off the loans they took out for their two children.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 30, 2026
We had a year to pay off the thirty-seven dollars, and though I had no idea how we would get the money, at least we were still building rockets.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
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.
