1
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
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
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in pivotal
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of pay off
Illia Smoliienko, Forbes.com, 15 May 2026
Kinney’s effort finally paid off in late April.
—Shreyas Laddha, Kansas City Star, 15 May 2026
David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 13 May 2026
Graubünden routes climb into alpine meadows and rock gardens where the payoff is mountain flora and wildlife sightings.
—Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 11 May 2026
Andrew Unterberger, Billboard, 17 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pay off
Verb
Why invest in roles that don't pay off right away and need a long runway of training, when AI can take on part of the work?
—Illia Smoliienko, Forbes.com, 15 May 2026
Kinney’s effort finally paid off in late April.
—Shreyas Laddha, Kansas City Star, 15 May 2026
Noun
The payoff can be even more exciting.
—David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 13 May 2026
Graubünden routes climb into alpine meadows and rock gardens where the payoff is mountain flora and wildlife sightings.
—Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 11 May 2026
Adjective
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
See All Example Sentences for pay off
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pay off
Verb
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The parliamentarian kept most of the immigration portion of the legislation intact, though some minor provisions were blocked, including Customs and Border Patrol funds to hire, train and pay Border Patrol agents.—
Mary Clare Jalonick,
Los Angeles Times,
18 May 2026
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The court also ordered them to pay Djena nearly three hundred thousand dollars in restitution.—
Yudhijit Bhattacharjee,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
Verb
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Please, holler at your boy, soften my enemies, bribe the devil.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 May 2026
-
Another man Wang communicated with, John Chen, was also sentenced to 20 months in prison for acting as an unregistered agent and bribing an IRS agent, prosecutors said.—
Jeanine Santucci,
USA Today,
12 May 2026
Noun
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Their financial profits are dependent upon ceaseless, never-ending armed conflicts and wars.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 May 2026
-
That would allow the company to put those savings into lower fares, according to company officials, or into profits and bonus checks, as critics contend.—
Sacbee.com,
Sacbee.com,
13 May 2026
Adjective
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This article contains pivotal plot points and details of Nemesis, which debuted all eight episodes of its first season Thursday night on Netflix.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
15 May 2026
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In the episode, Morris plays Hazel, a sponsor to one of the pivotal characters.—
Emily Zemler,
Rolling Stone,
15 May 2026
Verb
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Fast-food restaurants, once the first stop for Americans looking to get at least one meal in before a long work day, are fighting to win back customers.—
Betty Lin-Fisher,
USA Today,
1 Sep. 2025
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Compared with Let’s Move’s easygoing recommendations—children should get at least one hour of physical activity each day, and everyone should drink one more glass of water—MAHA is also considerably more macho.—
Tom Bartlett,
The Atlantic,
1 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Cuba's shootdown in 1996 of two Cessna aircraft operated by the Brothers to the Rescue was a watershed moment in decades of hostilities between the two countries.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
16 May 2026
-
The meetings in Beijing, set for Thursday and Friday, could be a watershed moment for the adversarial superpowers, whose fragile relationship has been snarled up by a flurry of economic and political conflicts in the past year alone.—
Kevin Breuninger,
CNBC,
12 May 2026
Verb
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China's exports gathered pace in April as factories scrambled to meet surging overseas demand from foreign buyers stockpiling goods as the Iran fanned fears of higher input costs.—
Anniek Bao,Evelyn Cheng,
CNBC,
18 May 2026
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Rafa starts to fidget around noon before mama is supposed to meet us for her lunch break.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 May 2026
Verb
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Rai’s father, Amrik Singh, bought his son a set of Titleist 690 MB irons when the latter was still a child, worth nearly 1,000 pounds — money that the working-class Rai family didn’t exactly have.—
Gabby Herzig,
New York Times,
18 May 2026
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Among them is Cai Youcheng, a 36-year-old graphic designer in Beijing who has set aside plans to buy for now.—
Chris Lau,
CNN Money,
18 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pay off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pay%20off. Accessed 18 May. 2026.
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