underpay

verb un·der·pay \ ˌən-dər-ˈpā \

|Updated on: 6 Jun 2018

Examples: underpay in a Sentence

Definition of underpay

underpaid play \ˌən-dər-ˈpād\; underpaying

transitive verb

: to pay less than what is normal or required

underpay taxes

—

underpayment

play \ˌən-dər-ˈpā-mənt\ noun

See underpay defined for English-language learners

See underpay defined for kids

Examples of underpay in a Sentence

She underpaid for her meal.
He realized that he had underpaid the cashier.
The company underpays its workers.
They are underpaid for the work they do.

Recent Examples of underpay from the Web

Because the way that the NFL treats cheerleaders, uses them, profits off them, controls them, underpays them and — it’s been reported this week — pimps them out isn’t something of this era or this world.

— Washington Post, "The Redskins cheerleaders cheer on the home team and urge them to fight. Now they’ve got to fight for themselves.," 5 May 2018
Just this week, the Chicago suburb of Harvey, a city with a history of underpaying its pension obligations, announced deep layoffs in its police and fire departments.

— geoff mulvihill, USA TODAY, "Many state pension systems have huge funding gaps, liabilities, Pew report claims," 12 Apr. 2018
Separately, Uber agreed to settle for $10 million a class-action lawsuit filed last year on behalf of 420 women and minorities who alleged the company discriminated against them by systematically underpaying them.

— greg bensinger, WSJ, "Uber to Let California Self-Driving-Car Permit Lapse," 27 Mar. 2018
Trump has met with at least three groups of senior advisors to discuss Amazon's business practices, looking into issues such as whether the company pays the appropriate amount of taxes or underpays the Postal Service, according to the three people.

— washington post, latimes.com, "Trump personally pushed postmaster general to double rates on Amazon, other firms," 18 May 2018
The state’s troubled child-support payment system incorrectly underpaid about 70 custodial parents who are on or who had just gotten off welfare this year, Baker administration officials said this week.

— joshua miller, BostonGlobe.com, "Revenue Dept. mistakenly underpays child support for about 70 parents," 11 May 2018
And nobody has the power to stop employers from this intentional bias toward underpaying workers.

— david dayen, The New Republic, "How America Broke Its Economy," 8 May 2018
Following the investigation, officials found that several other employees were being underpaid based on their skill sets.

— trisha thadani, San Francisco Chronicle, "Bay Area tech company ordered to pay H-1B employees for wage violations," 1 May 2018
But the investor sure goes out of his way to underpay himself for shareholders' benefit.

— tae kim, USA TODAY, "Warren Buffett, one of the world's wealthiest people, reimburses Berkshire Hathaway for postage," 20 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'underpay.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.