pensioner
Americannoun
-
pensioners
plural
-
a person who receives or lives on a pension.
-
a person who works only for pay without regard to the value of the work; a hireling.
-
a student at Cambridge University who pays the cost to dine in the commons and other expenses, and is not supported by any foundation.
-
Obsolete. a gentleman-at-arms.
noun
-
a person who is receiving a pension, esp an old-age pension from the state
-
a person dependent on the pay or bounty of another
-
obsolete another name for gentleman-at-arms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of pensioner
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English; from Anglo-French; pension, + -er 2 ( def. )
Vocabulary lists containing pensioner
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:
The pension is updated every October by at least the recorded increase in the pensioner retail price index for June.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
"That works out at £365 per month, which when you're a pensioner is a lot of money to be paying extra," she said.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
“Here what worries us is having electricity, water and money and then resolving the day’s needs,” said Irelis Cedeño, a 65-year-old pensioner who lives just outside of Caracas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
"The greatest man has died, the greatest general of the Serbian people," pensioner Dragan Beric said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
The final addition to the regular group at the farm was Mr. Jelliman, an amiable white pensioner and old friend of the movement who became the farm foreman.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Jersey pensioners are to receive an increase of £734 a year to their old age pension as a top-up comes into effect.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Equiniti told the BBC it could not discuss individual cases but recognised the concern caused to pensioners.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
They include current and future pensioners from Rolls-Royce and British American Tobacco, which Pension Insurance Corporation took over before Athora swooped in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
This year the government expects, external to spend a total of £322bn on welfare in Great Britain, or 10.6% of GDP, just over half of which goes to pensioners.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
That doesn’t make any sense, of course—these are private files of pensioners; two strangers would never be allowed to thumb through them without permission.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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.
