1
: requital
2
: a return on an investment equal to the original capital outlay
also
: the period of time elapsed before an investment is recouped
Examples of payback in a Sentence
They beat our team last year, so we've got to beat them this year as payback.
we are hoping to get payback for the humiliating defeat we suffered at the hands of our rivals during our last matchup
Recent Examples on the Web
DeLeskey and his teammates are hoping for payback.
—
Brendan Connelly, Boston Herald, 22 Nov. 2025
Maybe there’s some cosmic payback in the fact that life here in the 19th and early 20the centuries, particularly in the west, could be brutal.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 21 Nov. 2025
In taking on the role o f a filmmaker in his latest movie, Stellan Skarsgård sniffed a chance at payback.
—Thomas Page, CNN Money, 11 Nov. 2025
The resulting portrait is one of a vindictive individual whose appetite for payback knows no bounds.
—David Remnick, New Yorker, 11 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for payback
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Brendan Connelly, Boston Herald, 22 Nov. 2025
Maybe there’s some cosmic payback in the fact that life here in the 19th and early 20the centuries, particularly in the west, could be brutal.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 21 Nov. 2025
In taking on the role o f a filmmaker in his latest movie, Stellan Skarsgård sniffed a chance at payback.
—Thomas Page, CNN Money, 11 Nov. 2025
The resulting portrait is one of a vindictive individual whose appetite for payback knows no bounds.
—David Remnick, New Yorker, 11 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for payback
Cite this Entry
“Payback.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/payback. Accessed 25 Nov. 2025.
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