payroll

American  

[pey-rohl] / ˈpeɪˌroʊl /

noun

• payrolls
  plural

1. a list of employees to be paid, with the amount due to each.

2. the sum total of these amounts.

3. the actual money on hand for distribution.

   The bandits got away with the payroll.

4. the total number of people employed by a business firm or organization.

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verb (used with object)

1. to fund or subsidize.

   to be payrolled by the State Department.

payroll British  

/ ˈpeɪˌrəʊl /

noun

1. a list of employees, specifying the salary or wage of each

2. 1. the total of these amounts or the actual money equivalent

   2. ( as modifier )

      a payroll tax

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• payrolls
  plural

Etymology

Origin of payroll

First recorded in 1765–75; pay ¹ + roll

Explanation

A company's payroll is a complete list of everyone who works there and how much money they make. The small coffee shop where you work might have just four employees on its payroll. Any business or organization with a paid staff has a payroll. A school's payroll might include the principal, teachers, office workers, school nurse, and maintenance workers, for example. You can also use the term payroll for the entire amount of money that a company pays its workers over the course of a year, or for the department that calculates these salaries and hands out paychecks.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

payroll payrolls

Fans may find it suggestive that the Dodgers, with the league’s top payroll, has won the last two World Series, but real-world evidence undermines the received wisdom that payroll equals success.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

During a recent Senate Finance Committee hearing, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said she and Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, were calling on Congress to “scrap the cap” on payroll taxes.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

They surpassed $100 million in opening day payroll for the first time in franchise history and called up baseball’s top prospect, shortstop Konnor Griffin, a week into the season.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Private payroll growth has averaged a little over 50,000 per month for the last year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

The most marked manifestation of the trend was an enhanced standard of living for Rad Lab scientists placed on the government payroll as consultants.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Kyle Tucker’s sub-.240 batting average and the oft-injured Edwin Díaz cost the Dodgers $83 million this year — more than the entire payrolls of the Marlins and Guardians.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

For more than a decade, Los Angeles’ premier sports teams — the Lakers and the Dodgers — have relied on big-ticket TV rights deals to boost their operations and player payrolls.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

“While the weaker than expected nonfarm payrolls numbers last week help, the CPI numbers later today are arguably more important,” the senior currency analyst adds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Yields on 10-year and 30-year Treasury bonds briefly dipped after Friday’s July payrolls report showed a surprise decline in the number of jobs, but the move was quickly reversed — something Rosenberg flagged as concerning.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

The week following Kenniston's drop-out was a busy one, with time-books to check and enter, commissary deductions to be made, and the payrolls to be gotten out.

From Branded by Francis Lynde

Related Words

• amount
• budget
• charge
• consumption
• debt
• expenditure
• insurance
• investment
• liability
• loan
• loss
• mortgage
• obligation
• outlay
• price
• price tag
• rate
• risk
• spending
• sum