pay down

verb

paid down; paying down; pays down

transitive verb

: to reduce (a debt) by repaying in part

Examples of pay down in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Making payments on time, paying down credit card balances and keeping older accounts open when practical may help strengthen your credit profile over time. — Jasmin Suknanan, CNBC, 12 Oct. 2026

And $54 million will be diverted from a reserve fund used to pay down long-term debts. — A.d. Quig, Chicago Tribune, 8 Oct. 2026

So, paying down credit cards aggressively while still earning employment income may make sense. — Angelica Leicht, CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026

As Puerto Rican regulators prepared to liquidate the bank in March 2023, prosecutors said Ramirez and Niembro caused Nodus to accept a loan portfolio from Nodus Finance to pay down debt associated with the notes. — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 7 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1975, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for pay down

• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown
• godown
• hometown