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
Synonyms
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
Should the pirate king hide out in the Caribbean or head to England for payback?
—
Sean Kingsley, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Apr. 2024
Policyholders will get a $7.3 billion payback The word mutual in the company's name refers to its collective ownership by its policy holders.
—Karl Ebert, Journal Sentinel, 21 Feb. 2024
The club was on a payback plan with the county, but had agreed to pay the entirety within 180 days of announcing a plan to take the A’s out of Oakland, which the team did last year.
—Jason Mastrodonato, The Mercury News, 14 Feb. 2024
Prosecutors alleged in the grand-jury proceedings that the fight, purportedly payback for the theft of a Death Row gold chain a few weeks earlier during a Crips and Mob Piru melee in California, precipitated the drive-by shooting that came hours later.
—John L. Smith, Rolling Stone, 25 Jan. 2024
The defending national champions got some payback against Xavier, which swept the two-game season series last year.
—Jeff Wallner, USA TODAY, 11 Jan. 2024
It’s been less than a year since the Aztecs lost to the Huskies in the national championship, making the team hungry for some payback.
—Trisha Garcia-Easto, Sacramento Bee, 28 Mar. 2024
New payback plans will be hammered out with one investment group that holds over three-fourths of the bonds related to the Alabama plant and another group with more than 92% of the bonds for the Mississippi plant.
—James Pollard, Fortune, 13 Mar. 2024
Their revenge play on behalf of the twice-impeached ex-President always seemed more about payback and partisan politics than anything else.
—Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 22 Feb. 2024
Sean Kingsley, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Apr. 2024
Policyholders will get a $7.3 billion payback The word mutual in the company's name refers to its collective ownership by its policy holders.
—Karl Ebert, Journal Sentinel, 21 Feb. 2024
The club was on a payback plan with the county, but had agreed to pay the entirety within 180 days of announcing a plan to take the A’s out of Oakland, which the team did last year.
—Jason Mastrodonato, The Mercury News, 14 Feb. 2024
Prosecutors alleged in the grand-jury proceedings that the fight, purportedly payback for the theft of a Death Row gold chain a few weeks earlier during a Crips and Mob Piru melee in California, precipitated the drive-by shooting that came hours later.
—John L. Smith, Rolling Stone, 25 Jan. 2024
The defending national champions got some payback against Xavier, which swept the two-game season series last year.
—Jeff Wallner, USA TODAY, 11 Jan. 2024
It’s been less than a year since the Aztecs lost to the Huskies in the national championship, making the team hungry for some payback.
—Trisha Garcia-Easto, Sacramento Bee, 28 Mar. 2024
New payback plans will be hammered out with one investment group that holds over three-fourths of the bonds related to the Alabama plant and another group with more than 92% of the bonds for the Mississippi plant.
—James Pollard, Fortune, 13 Mar. 2024
Their revenge play on behalf of the twice-impeached ex-President always seemed more about payback and partisan politics than anything else.
—Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 22 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'payback.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near payback
Cite this Entry
“Payback.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/payback. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share