pension

[pen-shuhn, pahn-syawn]

noun

plural

pensions 

1. 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.

2. an allowance, annuity, or subsidy.

3. (in France and elsewhere in continental Europe)

   1. a boardinghouse or small hotel.

   2. room and board.

verb (used with object)

1. to grant or pay a pension to.

2. to cause to retire on a pension (usually followed byoff ).

pension

¹

/ pɑ̃sjɔ̃ /

noun

1. a relatively cheap boarding house

2. another name for full board

pension

²

/ ˈpɛnʃən /

noun

1. a regular payment made by the state to people over a certain age to enable them to subsist without having to work

2. a regular payment made by an employer to former employees after they retire

3. a regular payment made to a retired person as the result of his or her contributions to a personal pension scheme

4. 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

1. (tr) to grant a pension to

pension

1. Payments made to a retired person either by the government or by a former employer.

Other Word Forms

• pensionable adjective
• pensionably adverb
• pensionless adjective
• nonpensionable adjective
• unpensionable adjective
• unpensioned adjective
• unpensioning adjective
• well-pensioned adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pension¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of pension¹

C17: French; extended meaning of pension grant; see _pension ¹

Origin of pension²

C14: via Old French from Latin pēnsiō a payment, from pendere to pay

Example Sentences

She is searching for a public-school position that offers higher pay and a pension.

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Many institutional investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies, have often been reluctant in recent years to make big bets on L.A. because the rapidly changing rules make it impossible to predict profits.

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See: Will I have to pay taxes on my $4,700 military pension and Social Security benefit?

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The state pension rise is set using different criteria: what is known as the triple lock.

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If doubts about private lenders continue to fester, pensions and other large institutional investors could become forced sellers of index funds to avoid realizing losses on their private-asset holdings.

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Related Words

• allowance 
• annuity 
• grant 
• payment 
• premium 
• retirement account www.thesaurus.com
• reward 
• social security 
• subsidy