Synonyms of pay off

pay off 1 of 3

verb

1

as in to pay

to give what is owed for

I finally paid off the loan

Synonyms & Similar Words

• pay
• pay up
• meet
• settle
• balance
• spring (for)
• stand
• pony up
• ante (up)
• foot
• liquidate
• discharge
• quit
• clear
• recompense

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• repudiate

2

as in to bribe

to influence someone with a bribe

she paid off the security guard so that she could steal whatever she liked

Synonyms & Similar Words

• bribe
• get at
• buy
• lure
• have
• seduce
• poison
• provoke
• entice
• corrupt
• persuade
• square
• tempt
• lead on
• oil the hand of
• tamper (with)
• grease the hand of
• induce
• subvert
• spur
• motivate
• dishonor
• taint
• prostitute
• bait
• stimulate
• degrade
• debauch
• deprave
• debase
• trap
• defile
• pervert
• demean
• warp
• abase
• allure
• profane
• fix
• goad
• beguile
• flatter
• snare

payoff

2 of 3

noun

ˈpā-ˌȯf 

as in profit

the amount of money left when expenses are subtracted from the total amount received

the payoff on the investment was only about $500

Synonyms & Similar Words

• profit
• earnings
• proceeds
• gain
• return
• income
• salary
• net
• windfall
• lucre
• sales
• cleanup
• revenue
• payment
• wages
• killing
• pay
• compensation
• bottom line
• yield
• interest
• gross
• emolument
• remittal
• requital

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• cost
• expense
• loss
• expenditure
• charge
• outlay
• disbursement
• outgo

payoff

3 of 3

adjective

as in pivotal

Related Words

• pivotal
• watershed
• decisive
• deciding
• earthshaking
• epochal
• momentous
• make-or-break
• crucial
• life-and-death
• cataclysmal
• critical
• crossover
• fateful
• crowning
• climactic
• culminating
• highest
• vital
• crestal
• apocalyptic
• go-no-go
• apical
• meridian
• climacteric
• high
• apogean

Dissimilar Words

• trivial
• insignificant
• unimportant
• anticlimactic
• inconsequential
• indecisive
• noncritical

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of pay off

Verb

The big question is whether those extra classroom days will pay off — and the first signal, attendance, is a mixed one. — Lina Ruiz october 8, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 Oct. 2026

The rapid production schedule paid off when the cast members saw the familiar-yet-foreign set for the first time in more than a decade. — Mekita Rivas, Architectural Digest, 8 Oct. 2026

Noun

For Target, the payoff extends beyond a smoother customer experience. — Jasmin Malik Chua, Footwear News, 2 Oct. 2026

The payoff is that bulky, awkward items like pot lids and foil boxes stop monopolizing a shelf and become easy to grab. — Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Miami Herald, 1 Oct. 2026

Adjective

There’s little sense of forward motion in these tracks, but even when simply drifting in place, the blend of atmosphere and physicality—sunset glow meets seismic throb—is payoff enough. — Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork, 4 Aug. 2026

Not wrong for much of the last three decades — but Saturday night’s gig, and all the joyous revelry surrounding it, showed why the Live ’25 Tour has been payoff enough for none of them to look back in anger at any of it. — Andrew Unterberger, Billboard, 17 Aug. 2025