noun
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the act of paying
-
a sum of money paid
-
something given in return; punishment or reward
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of payment
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, variant of paiement, from Middle French; equivalent to pay 1 + -ment
Explanation
Payment is the process of either giving money to someone, or of receiving money from someone. If you borrow money to buy a car, you'll be expected to make a monthly payment for several years. Your paycheck itself is a payment, and so is the act of your boss handing you that paycheck. There are also types of payment that don't involve money, like when your payment for watching your little cousin one afternoon consists of a big piece of your uncle's famous apple pie. Payment, from the verb pay, is rooted in the Latin pacare, used to mean "satisfy a creditor," but originally defined as "please, satisfy, or make peaceful."
Vocabulary lists containing payment
"...And Although the Little Mermaid Sacrificed Everything..."
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Century 21 Accounting, 9e, Chapters 8-10
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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.
Each letter bears the same heading – 'payment due to your pension plan' – and they span a period from 2020 to 2023.
From BBC • Dec. 5, 2025
"We're starting to see 'payment shock'," says Montlake, referring to the nasty surprise people get when their fixed period expires and they're faced with higher rates.
From BBC • Aug. 24, 2022
That in turn would get rid of the ‘payment by proxy’ structure of the industry, which would then have to focus on pleasing consumers instead of pleasing employers.
From Forbes • Sep. 4, 2011
Great men I know nothing of; but women can and do, without blame, sue their husbands-in-law for the full ‘payment of debt,’ and demand a divorce if they please in default.
From Letters from Egypt by Ross, Janet
“The compensation is to be only the ‘payment to the owner for a limited term of an annual sum not exceeding the then average net annual produce of the said lands.’
From Buchanan's Journal of Man, October 1887 Volume 1, Number 9 by Buchanan, Joseph R. (Joseph Rodes)
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.
