payoff

C2+ Topic:Verbs of Movement

US /ˈpeɪɔf/ UK /ˈpeɪɒf/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
the return or reward from an action; a bribe or final settlement

The years of training finally yielded a handsome payoff.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the return or reward from... reward return profit bribe settlement gainkickback

Opposites

loss cost

Word family

Related forms paypayoutpayment

Etymology

A compound of the verb pay and the adverb off. Pay derives from Old French paier, from Latin pacare ('to appease, satisfy'), from pax ('peace').

paier Old French pacare Latin pax Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Verbs of Movement

# payoff

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈpeɪɔf
**IPA (UK):** ˈpeɪɒf

## Meanings
1. the return or reward from an action; a bribe or final settlement

## Examples
- The years of training finally yielded a handsome payoff.

## Synonyms
- reward
- return
- profit
- bribe
- settlement
- gain
- kickback

## Antonyms
- loss
- cost

## Related Forms
- pay
- payout
- payment

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: paier
- Root: pacare
- Root: pax

## Etymology
A compound of the verb pay and the adverb off. Pay derives from Old French paier, from Latin pacare ('to appease, satisfy'), from pax ('peace').

## AI Etymology
Payoff is a compound of the verb pay and the adverb off. Pay derives from Old French paier, from Latin pacare ('to appease, satisfy'), from pax ('peace'). Important recorded forms include paier (Old French), pacare (Latin), and pax (Latin). The modern sense follows that older lexical line closely. In current use it covers the return or reward from an action; a bribe or final settlement. The wider family includes related words such as pay, payout, and payment.

## Topics
- Verbs of Movement

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payoff

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