pay up

verb

Definition of pay upnext
as in to pay
to give what is owed for for once our bills are all paid up

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for pay up
  1. pay
  2. pay off
  3. meet
Verb
  • Lucas said each year the City Council allocates more than 25% of its annual operating revenue to fund the Police Department, yet the agency struggles each year with paying legal settlements.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 14 July 2026
  • But if your paperwork is approved and your interview is completed, and your fees are paid, congratulations!
    — Josie Fischels, NPR, 14 July 2026
Definition of pay
Verb
  • Here are five important things to know before taking out a HELOC to pay off high-interest debt.
    — John Csiszar, CNBC, 14 July 2026
  • Without enough tenants paying rent to help pay off a project’s debt, however, developers will often hand over the keys to cut their losses on an underperforming project.
    — Zachary Hansen, AJC.com, 14 July 2026
Definition of pay off
Verb
  • Clemente, the radar systems professor, noted that Ukrainian industry has become extremely agile to meet evolving threats.
    — Daria Tarasova-Markina, CNN Money, 18 July 2026
  • For the religious right, churches have long been a place where politics meet ideological beliefs.
    — Lauren Costantino, Miami Herald, 18 July 2026
Definition of meet
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

pays up
pay up
PDQ
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Pay up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pay%20up. Accessed 18 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 17
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
child-detective
Spot the Misspelled Word July 2026 Those little red underlines can't help you now...
See All