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

These credentials, which demonstrate that a worker has completed training or developed a specific skill, can pay off in the job market. — Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026

And despite some disagreements, my efforts have started to pay off. — Jeanne Bonner, CNN Money, 16 Oct. 2026

Noun

The payoff — eventually — was a 123-103 shellacking of an undermanned Phoenix squad at the Frost Bank Center that handed the Spurs their first victory of the preseason. — Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 14 Oct. 2026

But the race is not only about the technology itself, but the payoff, which is a big one. — Alexa St. John, Los Angeles Times, 12 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