pension
Americannoun
-
pensions
plural
-
a fixed amount, other than wages, paid at regular intervals to a person or to the person's surviving dependents in consideration of past services, age, merit, poverty, injury or loss sustained, etc..
a retirement pension.
-
an allowance, annuity, or subsidy.
-
(in France and elsewhere in continental Europe)
-
a boardinghouse or small hotel.
-
room and board.
-
verb (used with object)
-
pensions,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pensioned,
past participle, past
-
pensioning
present participle
-
to grant or pay a pension to.
-
to cause to retire on a pension (usually followed byoff ).
noun
-
a relatively cheap boarding house
-
another name for full board
noun
-
a regular payment made by the state to people over a certain age to enable them to subsist without having to work
-
a regular payment made by an employer to former employees after they retire
-
a regular payment made to a retired person as the result of his or her contributions to a personal pension scheme
-
any regular payment made on charitable grounds, by way of patronage, or in recognition of merit, service, etc
a pension paid to a disabled soldier
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
nonpensionableadjective
-
pensionableadjective
-
pensionlessadjective
-
unpensionableadjective
-
unpensionedadjective
-
unpensioningadjective
-
well-pensionedadjective
-
pensionablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pensionsimple
-
pensionssimple
-
have pensionedperfect
-
has pensionedperfect
-
am pensioningprogressive
-
are pensioningprogressive
-
is pensioningprogressive
-
have been pensioningperfect progressive
-
has been pensioningperfect progressive
Past
-
pensionedsimple
-
had pensionedperfect
-
was pensioningprogressive
-
were pensioningprogressive
-
had been pensioningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pension
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Old French pensïon, from Latin pēnsiōn-, stem of pēnsiō “measured weight,” hence, “payment, rent,” from pēns(us) “weighed” (past participle of pendere “to hang, weigh out, pay by weight”) + -iō -ion
Explanation
A pension is a regular payment, usually from a company you worked for, that allows you to survive without working after you retire. In used to be common for someone to spend their entire career at one company, and then retire at 65 and receive a pension: regular payments of enough money to live on in old age. Nowadays, not that many jobs offer pensions, and it's hard for companies that do to pay for them, which is why you're likely to hear this word when people are arguing about budget cuts. It's also a verb: if you pension your employee, you give them a pension. How nice of you!
Vocabulary lists containing pension
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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!
This Week in Words: February 16 - 22, 2019
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!
The Great Depression and The New Deal
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Unlike the four major professional sports in the U.S., wrestlers have no pension and no retiree health benefits.
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
Any push to fundamentally overhaul the pension system is likely to run up against firm opposition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
She's in a better place financially now, but recently became self-employed and is no longer part of a private pension scheme, something she hopes to change.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
On Thursday, the government outlined a 2027 budget proposal that contains 43 billion euros in cuts and cost savings, equivalent to $49 billion, including steps to tighten spending on the country’s bloated pension system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
If the police give a dance for their pension fund and everyone else gives a dollar, Dora has to give fifty dollars.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
Kounalakis told The Times in May she would prioritize responsible management of state finances and investment in housing and infrastructure and protect public employee pensions through transparent oversight of the state’s investment portfolio.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Burnham’s speech at the Labour conference also outlined changes to pensions and plans to strengthen control of water companies, build a national care service and create a public body to invest in the electricity grid.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said the measures were designed to "show some tough love" to reduce the number of Neets.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
Millions of Americans own these companies directly or indirectly through retirement accounts, pensions, mutual funds and direct investments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
“They get holidays, don’t they? And — and sick leave, and pensions, and everything?”
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
This is why James Anderson was pensioned off, why performances in domestic cricket were largely ignored and why parts of the County Championship were turned into an experiment with the Kookaburra ball.
From BBC ● Dec. 7, 2025
The airline struggled with a 51-day pilots' strike between September and November 2017, grounding half its fleet and resulting in dozens of pilots being fired, while others resigned or were pensioned off.
From Reuters ● Nov. 25, 2021
It’s also an issue in the United States, although a lot of independent groups and regulators put forth measures to find homes for retired and pensioned horses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2020
“Maybe it’s time for the whole thing to be pensioned off and rethought.”
From New York Times ● Aug. 21, 2017
“Not that it need come to that,” Mr. Owen blurted, meaning Tansy might marry and be saved before she was pensioned off.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Downpour and Inferno are states that people drive between pensioning their senators and whitegoods.
From New York Times ● Apr. 15, 2022
The period-of-presumption idea was done away with entirely, the Government pensioning War veterans frankly on their civil disability.
From Time Magazine Archive
From Berlin they learned that Handsome Adolf himself had suppressed news of the Habicht ultimatum in Germany and was thinking of pensioning or retiring him from his post as "Inspector General for Austria."
From Time Magazine Archive
When Iowa sent a pension to Joseph Newt Finney, she joined no less than 26 other States, Alaska and Hawaii, in pensioning her aged.*
From Time Magazine Archive
And then he goes on to allude to Prince Bismarck's "abominable proposition to create a fund for pensioning invalid workmen by a monopoly of tobacco"!
From The History of the Fabian Society by Edward R. Pease
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.
