What are some opposite words for pay?

Antonyms for pay
peɪpay

This page is about all possible antonyms and opposite words for the term pay.

English Synonyms and Antonyms3.5 / 2 votes

  1. paynoun

    An allowance is a stipulated amount furnished at regular intervals as a matter of discretion or gratuity, as of food to besieged soldiers, or of money to a child or ward. Compensation is a comprehensive word signifying a return for a service done. Remuneration is applied to matters of great amount or importance. Recompense is a still wider and loftier word, with less suggestion of calculation and market value; there are services for which affection and gratitude are the sole and sufficient recompense; earnings, fees, hire, pay, salary, and wages are forms of compensation and may be included in compensation, remuneration, or recompense. Pay is commercial and strictly signifies an exact pecuniary equivalent for a thing or service, except when the contrary is expressly stated, as when we speak of "high pay" or "poor pay." Wages denotes what a worker receives. Earnings is often used as exactly equivalent to wages, but may be used with reference to the real value of work done or service rendered, and even applied to inanimate things; as, the earnings of capital. Hire is distinctly mercenary or menial, but as a noun has gone out of popular use, tho the verb to hire is common. Salary is for literary or professional work, wages for handicraft or other comparatively inferior service; a salary is regarded as more permanent than wages; an editor receives a salary, a compositor receives wages. Stipend has become exclusively a literary word. A fee is given for a single service or privilege, and is sometimes in the nature of a gratuity. Compare REQUITE.

    Synonyms:
    allowance, compensation, earnings, fee, hire, honorarium, payment, recompense, remuneration, requital, salary, stipend, wages

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms5.0 / 1 vote

  1. paynoun

    Synonyms:
    wages, salary, stipend, recompense, payment

  2. payverb

    Antonyms:
    deprive, defraud, exact, dissatisfy, hoard, retain, invest, fund

    Synonyms:
    compensate, remunerate, satisfy, discharge, expend, disburse, requite, liquidate

Princeton's WordNet0.0 / 0 votes

  1. wage, pay, earnings, remuneration, salaryverb

    something that remunerates

    "wages were paid by check"; "he wasted his pay on drink"; "they saved a quarter of all their earnings"

    Synonyms:
    profit, salary, lucre, wage, net income, earnings, profits, net, net profit, remuneration

  2. payverb

    give money, usually in exchange for goods or services

    "I paid four dollars for this sandwich"; "Pay the waitress, please"

    Synonyms:
    ante up, pay up, give, devote, yield, make up, compensate, pay off, bear

  3. give, payverb

    convey, as of a compliment, regards, attention, etc.; bestow

    "Don't pay him any mind"; "give the orders"; "Give him my best regards"; "pay attention"

    Synonyms:
    make up, commit, chip in, dedicate, cave in, collapse, impart, compensate, pass on, move over, return, establish, reach, present, have, fall in, make, throw, ante up, gift, kick in, feed, break, ease up, apply, give, grant, open, founder, devote, pay up, hold, pass, render, sacrifice, yield, turn over, leave, give way, consecrate, generate, contribute, afford, pay off, hand, bear

  4. pay up, ante up, payverb

    cancel or discharge a debt

    "pay up, please!"

    Synonyms:
    ante up, pay up, give, yield, make up, compensate, pay off, devote, bear

  5. yield, pay, bearverb

    bring in

    "interest-bearing accounts"; "How much does this savings certificate pay annually?"

    Synonyms:
    digest, abide, succumb, comport, tolerate, deliver, make up, compensate, behave, move over, return, endure, hold, put up, concede, have, expect, give in, deport, give way, assume, give, stick out, take over, ante up, pay up, ease up, carry, cede, grant, knuckle under, support, devote, birth, relent, buckle under, render, have a bun in the oven, soften, acquit, brook, yield, turn out, conduct, suffer, contain, stand, gestate, stomach, generate, accept, afford, pay off, give birth, wear, bear

  6. pay, pay off, make up, compensateverb

    do or give something to somebody in return

    "Does she pay you for the work you are doing?"

    Synonyms:
    even off, right, get, liquidate, make up, compensate, patch up, recompense, cover, fix, remunerate, even out, fabricate, pay back, make, be, redeem, ante up, reconcile, correct, invent, counterbalance, give, overcompensate, catch up with, manufacture, devote, pay up, represent, conciliate, comprise, even up, repair, yield, cook up, buy off, indemnify, redress, constitute, pay off, settle, bear

  7. give, pay, devoteverb

    dedicate

    "give thought to"; "give priority to"; "pay attention to"

    Synonyms:
    make up, commit, chip in, dedicate, cave in, collapse, impart, compensate, pass on, move over, return, establish, reach, present, have, fall in, make, throw, ante up, gift, kick in, feed, break, ease up, apply, give, grant, open, founder, devote, pay up, hold, pass, render, sacrifice, yield, turn over, leave, give way, consecrate, generate, contribute, afford, pay off, hand, bear

  8. payverb

    be worth it

    "It pays to go through the trouble"

    Synonyms:
    ante up, pay up, give, devote, yield, make up, compensate, pay off, bear

  9. payverb

    render

    "pay a visit"; "pay a call"

    Synonyms:
    ante up, pay up, give, devote, yield, make up, compensate, pay off, bear

  10. payverb

    bear (a cost or penalty), in recompense for some action

    "You'll pay for this!"; "She had to pay the penalty for speaking out rashly"; "You'll pay for this opinion later"

    Synonyms:
    ante up, pay up, give, devote, yield, make up, compensate, pay off, bear

  11. payverb

    make a compensation for

    "a favor that cannot be paid back"

    Synonyms:
    ante up, pay up, give, devote, yield, make up, compensate, pay off, bear

  12. payverb

    discharge or settle

    "pay a debt"; "pay an obligation"

    Synonyms:
    ante up, pay up, give, devote, yield, make up, compensate, pay off, bear

How to use pay in a sentence?

  1. George Osborne:

    I’m not going to spend taxpayers' money on a legal challenge now unlikely to succeed, The fact remains that these are badly-designed rules that are pushing bankers' pay up, not reducing it.

  2. Bill Gross:

    Banks, insurance companies, pension funds and Mom and Pop on Main Street are stripped of their ability to pay for future debts and retirement benefits, central banks seem oblivious to this dark side of low interest rates. If maintained for too long, the real economy itself is affected as expected income fails to materialize and investment spending stagnates.

  3. Emily Benfer:

    Families are panicked, they don't know where their children are going to sleep come Monday night. They don't know how they'll cover the past-due rent that they're not likely to pay off in their lifetime. Many of them have applied for rental assistance, but with only $ 3 billion of the $ 46 billion paid out, they're on hold. And so they're panicked, they're desperate, they're in dire straits.

  4. Peter Gersten:

    We're seeing a fracture in their morale, we're seeing their inability to pay, we're seeing the inability to fight, we're watching them try to leave Daesh in every single way.

  5. Chris Christopher:

    Most likely, Americans are using their pump price savings to pay down debt, increase the money they put aside and for dining out.

How to pronounce pay?

How to say pay in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency

rankingword
#599pay
#1200fund
#3402exact
#6187invest
#6857retain
#32349deprive
#42868hoard
#49972defraud

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