payoff

¹pay·off

noun \ˈpā-ˌȯf\

Definition of PAYOFF

1

a : profit, reward

b : retribution

2

: the act or occasion of receiving money or material gain especially as compensation or as a bribe

3

: the climax of an incident or enterprise; specifically : the denouement of a narrative

4

: a decisive fact or factor resolving a situation or bringing about a definitive conclusion

Examples of PAYOFF

1. You'll have to work hard but there'll be a big payoff in the end.
2. We expected more of a payoff for all our hard work.
3. We made a lot of sacrifices with little payoff.
4. Several city officials have been accused of receiving payoffs from the company.
5. He lost his factory job but received a payoff and a pension.

First Known Use of PAYOFF

1905

Related to PAYOFF

Synonyms

earnings, gain, lucre, net, profit, proceeds, return

Related Words

cleanup, killing, windfall; bottom line; gross, sales; compensation, emolument, income, pay, payment, remittal, requital, salary, wages; interest, return, revenue, yield

Near Antonyms

charge, cost, disbursement, expenditure, expense, loss, outgo, outlay

Other Economics Terms

actuary, compound interest, globalization, indemnity, portfolio, rentier, stagflation, usurer

Rhymes with PAYOFF

back off, beg off, bind off, blastoff, blow off, break off, bring off, brush-off, bug off, bump off, burn off, buy off, call off, cast-off, castoff, change off, charge off, checkoff, check off, Chekhov, choke off, come off, cook-off, cry off, cutoff, cut off, die-off, die off, draw off, drop-off, drop off, dust off, face-off, face off, falloff, far-off, fire off, first off, flip off, fob off, get off, give off, go off, goof-off, handoff, hand off, hands-off, haul off, head off, hold off, jump-off, kickoff, kick off, kill off, kiss-off, kiss off, knockoff, knock off, Khrushchev, laugh off, layoff, lay off, leadoff, leave off, lie off, liftoff, make off, nod off, one-off, palm off, pass off, Pavlov, pawn off, pay off, peel off, pick off, pickoff, play-off, pop off, pull off, push off, put off, rake-off, reel off, rip-off, rip off, roll-off, rub off, runoff, Sarnoff, sawed-off, seal off, sell off, sell-off, send-off, setoff, set off, show-off, show off, shrug off, shutoff, shut off, sign off, sign-off, sound off, spin-off, spin off, square off, squeeze off, standoff, stand off, stave off, straight off, strike off, swear off, takeoff, take off, Tambov, tap-off, teed off, tee off, tell off, throw off, tick off, tip-off, touch off, trade-off, turnoff, turn off, well-off, Wolof, work off, write-off, write off

²payoff

adjective

Definition of PAYOFF

: yielding results in the final test : decisive

First Known Use of PAYOFF

1932