payload

noun

pay·​load ˈpā-ˌlōd 

plural payloads

1

: the load carried by a vehicle exclusive of what is necessary for its operation

especially : the load carried by an aircraft or spacecraft consisting of people or things (such as passengers or instruments) necessary to the purpose of the flight

… rockets carrying … a payload of Starlink satellites.

—Rick Neale

Their objective was to size the airplane according to its intended payload.

—Clive Irving

2

: the weight of a payload

… the Bronco had a payload of 2000 pounds.

—Darryl Young

Maximum fuel load is 3,550 pounds, leaving a payload of just 360 pounds with full tanks.

—J. Mac McClellan

3

: the destructive component carried by a missile or bomb

… they did not fail to realize that a missile powerful enough to put a satellite into orbit could also deliver a nuclear payload to Washington, D.C., or New York, or Chicago, or any major American city.

—Alex Wellerstein

also : something likened to such a payload

This vulnerability could be exploited to deploy a ransomware payload …

—Carly Page

Thus, a potential pitfall for using adenoviruses as a vaccine delivery system is that a person's immune system may end up responding more to the adenovirus itself than the vaccine's genetic payload …

—Beth Mole

Synonyms of payload

• cargo
• load
• loading
• burden

Examples of payload in a Sentence

The truck is carrying a payload of 2,580 pounds.

the space shuttle can carry a maximum payload of approximately 50,000 pounds

Recent Examples on the Web

By minimizing thermal management hardware, the new batteries could allow satellites to carry more payload or reduce launch costs through lower mass. —Chris Young, Interesting Engineering, 9 June 2026

The compromise packages executed a 28 KB payload that steals credentials from AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, password managers, and over 90 developer tool configurations. —Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 8 June 2026

Just over an hour later, SpaceX confirmed successful deployment of the Starlink payload (Group 10-35). —Robert Z. Pearlman, Space.com, 8 June 2026

On board is a micro rover built by ispace called Tenacious as well as several commercial payloads. —Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1914, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for payload

• abode
• anode
• barcode
• bestowed
• boatload
• borrowed
• carload
• caseload
• cathode
• commode
• corrode
• crossroad

Kids Definition

payload

noun

pay·​load ˈpā-ˌlōd 

: something (as cargo, passengers, instruments, or explosives) carried by a vehicle in addition to what is necessary for its operation