noun
-
the act of paying
-
a sum of money paid
-
something given in return; punishment or reward
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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..."
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Century 21 Accounting, 9e, Chapters 8-10
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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.
See Examples For:
Location has a big influence on the odds of no payment for auto claims.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
So, too, can deductibles, with higher average levels for a state likely to lead to more claims closed without payment, they added.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
The interest rate is a fixed 2.9%, and our monthly payment for property taxes, insurance and HOA dues are about $1,300 a month.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 8, 2026
Uefa, for whom Infantino was general secretary from 2009 to 2016, issued a statement confirming "a departure payment was made to the individual in question".
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Tribute is payment of some kind that a ruler demands of peoples who have been conquered.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
The attacks cost him about $20,000, and Wildberries hasn’t compensated him, he said in an interview, adding that it had granted a three-month deferment on loan payments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
Several high-profile athletes were owed payments over £100,000, including British former world 1500m champion Josh Kerr and 2024 Olympic 400m silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
You actually have three options: pay off the mortgage, continue making your regular mortgage payments or pay down part of the mortgage to reduce your monthly expenses.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 8, 2026
Environment Bank gives Greenbank Farm lease payments as well as paying the couple to help manage the land through the livestock grazing and hay cutting.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
“When they missed two successive payments in 1942, what did you do about that?”
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
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.
