reward

[ri-wawrd]

noun

1. a sum of money offered for the detection or capture of a criminal, the recovery of lost or stolen property, etc.

2. something given or received in return or recompense for service, merit, hardship, etc.

   Synonyms: bonus, premium, bounty, requital, remuneration, pay, desert

verb (used with object)

1. to recompense or requite (a person or animal) for service, merit, achievement, etc.

   Synonyms: remunerate, pay, compensate

2. to make return for or requite (service, merit, etc.); recompense.

reward

/ rɪˈwɔːd /

noun

1. something given or received in return for a deed or service rendered

2. a sum of money offered, esp for help in finding a criminal or for the return of lost or stolen property

3. profit or return

4. something received in return for good or evil; deserts

5. psychol any pleasant event that follows a response and therefore increases the likelihood of the response recurring in the future

verb

1. (tr) to give (something) to (someone), esp in gratitude for a service rendered; recompense

Other Word Forms

• rewardable adjective
• rewarder noun
• rewardless adjective
• rewardableness noun
• rewardably adverb
• misreward verb (used with object)
• overreward verb
• superreward verb (used with object)
• unrewardable adjective
• unrewarded adjective
• well-rewarded adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of reward¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English (verb) rewarden originally, “to regard,” from Old North French rewarder “to look at,” variant of Old French reguarder; regard

Word History and Origins

Origin of reward¹

C14: from Old Norman French rewarder to regard, from _re- + warder to care for, guard, of Germanic origin; see _ward

Synonym Study

Reward, prize, recompense imply something given in return for good. A reward is something given or done in return for good (or, more rarely, evil) received; it may refer to something abstract or concrete: a $50 reward; Virtue is its own reward. Prize refers to something concrete offered as a reward of merit, or to be contested for and given to the winner: to win a prize for an essay. A recompense is something given or done, whether as reward or punishment, for acts performed, services rendered, etc.; or it may be something given in compensation for loss or injury suffered, etc.: Renown was his principal recompense for years of hard work.

Example Sentences

The so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” — formally known as HR-1, the federal reconciliation package passed earlier this year — was pitched by lawmakers as a way to “restore fiscal sanity” and “reward work.”

Read more on Salon

I use them for convenience and reward points.

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Those prisons provide a chance for recreation, education, interaction with other inmates, as well as the possibility of transferring to lower-security institutions as a reward for good behavior.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The letter notes that MIT “prides itself on rewarding merit” and “was the first to reinstate the SAT/ACT requirement after the pandemic.”

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That way, Americans can punish or reward those decisions at the polls.

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Related Words

• award 
• benefit 
• bonus 
• bounty 
• compensation 
• dividend 
• honorarium 
• premium 
• profit 
• remuneration