Synonyms for pay off
pay off

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. pay off

   To repay or to retaliate, to punish or to reward, may be to make some return very inadequate to the benefit or injury received, or the right or wrong done; but to requite (according to its etymology) is to make so full and adequate a return as to quit oneself of all obligation of favor or hostility, of punishment or reward. Requite is often used in the more general sense of recompense or repay, but always with the suggestion, at least, of the original idea of full equivalent; when one speaks of requiting kindness with ingratitude, the expression gains force from the comparison of the actual with the proper and appropriate return. Compare PAY.

   Synonyms:
   avenge, compensate, pay, punish, quit, reciprocate, recompense, remunerate, repay, requite, retaliate, return, revenge, reward, satisfy, settle with

   Antonyms:
   absolve, acquit, excuse, forget, forgive, neglect, overlook, pardon, pardon, pass over, slight

   Preposition:
   To requite injury with injury is human, but not Christian.

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. pay offverb

   yield a profit or result

   "His efforts finally paid off"

   Synonyms:
   make up, pay, buy off, pay back, redeem, liquidate, get, compensate, fix

2. liquidate, pay offverb

   eliminate by paying off (debts)

   Synonyms:
   make up, do in, pay, buy off, pay back, redeem, liquidate, get, neutralise, compensate, knock off, fix, waste, neutralize

3. redeem, pay offverb

   pay off (loans or promissory notes)

   Synonyms:
   make up, redeem, pay, buy off, ransom, pay back, save, liquidate, get, compensate, fix, deliver

4. 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, settle, bear

5. buy off, pay offverb

   pay someone with influence in order to receive a favor

   Synonyms:
   make up, pay, buy off, pay back, redeem, liquidate, get, compensate, fix

6. pay back, pay off, get, fixverb

   take vengeance on or get even

   "We'll get them!"; "That'll fix him good!"; "This time I got him"

   Synonyms:
   desexualize, take, desexualise, restore, make, gear up, mystify, experience, develop, draw, cook, have, mend, become, desex, sustain, ready, receive, scram, unsex, amaze, stimulate, sire, limit, posit, drive, engender, go, fix, pay back, get under one's skin, stick, suffer, fixate, beat, pay, set about, get down, incur, make up, contract, bring forth, grow, specify, dumbfound, stupefy, start, fasten, arrest, beget, liquidate, sterilise, secure, repair, bring, bewilder, sterilize, mother, buy off, father, buzz off, catch, touch on, let, obtain, redeem, puzzle, flummox, repay, compensate, set, get, generate, prepare, capture, find, deposit, define, furbish up, baffle, produce, start out, pose, vex, situate, aim, induce, perplex, gravel, begin, fetch, set up, reward, determine, commence, arrive, set out, convey, acquire, come, bushel, bugger off, cause, doctor, nonplus

Matched Categories

1. • Bribe
   • Crime
   • Get Even
   • Pay
   • Pay Up
   • Settle
   • Yield

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:4.0 / 1 vote

1. pay off

   Synonyms:
   pay and discharge (as hired men)

2. pay off

   Synonyms:
   punish, pay, take revenge upon, retort upon

3. pay off

   Synonyms:
   (Naut.) fall off, fall to leeward

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How to use pay off in a sentence?

1. Warren Zevon:

   I might have made a tactical error not going to a physician for 20 years. It was one of those phobias that didn't pay off.

2. Andy Murray:

   I think in grand slams you have to try to conserve energy when you can really because the two weeks can be quite draining physically and mentally, if you can get yourself off the court quickly, capitalize if your opponent maybe isn't playing as well, if you're on your game, try to push yourself to keep playing that way. It can pay off toward the end of the tournament.

3. Alfred A. Montapert:

   In Texas, years ago, almost all of the oil came from surface operations. Then someone got the idea that there were greater sources of supply deeper down. A well was drilled five thousand feet deep. The result? A gusher. Too many of us operate on the surface. We never go deep enough to find supernatural resources. The result is, we never operate at our best. More time and investment is involved to go deep but a gusher will pay off.

4. Hillary Rodham Clinton:

   Now it's easy to try to cut costs by holding down or decreasing pay and other investments to inflate quarterly stock prices, but I would argue that's bad for business in the long run, workers are assets. Investing in them pays off. Higher wages pay off. And training pays off.

5. Kamala Harris:

   When our kids want to go to college, where as other families who own their home and can go into the equity in their home to help pay for their students' tuition, our families have to go and those students have to take out loans and at interest rates that they can't afford to pay off over a long period of time.