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

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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