salary
Americannoun
plural
salariesnoun
verb
Usage
What is a salary? A salary is a fixed, regular payment in exchange for work. This is different from earning a fee that depends on how many hours you work (earning a fixed rate per hour) or how much work you do, sometimes called piecework.When you earn a salary, it is usually stated as the amount of money you will receive in one year for doing the work (before any taxes are paid). You will then be paid in equal amounts each pay period over the course of that year, even when you are on a paid vacation. How often you are paid will vary from company to company, with every other week and twice a month being most common.To salary someone is to pay them a salary. A salaried employee is someone who is paid a salary instead of paid another way, such as paid by the hour.Example: How can they expect me to live my best life when I’m paid on such a low salary?
Related Words
See pay 1.
Other Word Forms
- salaryless adjective
Etymology
Origin of salary
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English salarie, from Anglo-French, from Latin salārium “money given to soldiers to buy salt, salt money.” See sal, -ary
Compare meaning
How does salary compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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.
In 2019, Furiosa didn’t pay the salaries of its senior executives for several months as the firm sought to avoid lowering its valuation while it worked to close out its next round of funding.
Some people are now returning to the area after stints in more expensive regions—in some cases bringing their salaries with them and immediately improving their standard of living.
Nipsa general secretary Carmel Gates said the strike was "a result of the fact that the management side from years ago introduced a new and very complex salary structure".
From BBC
“This year’s salary and job are never about this year’s salary and job,” she says.
From MarketWatch
The company at one point nearly ran out of cash and asked staff to trade salaries for equity, its founder, Jonathan Ross, said on the 20VC podcast earlier this year.
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.
