Meaning of payment in English

payment

noun

/ˈpeɪ.mənt/ us

/ˈpeɪ.mənt/

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B2 [ C or U ]

an amount of money paid:

Usually we ask for payment on receipt of the goods.

We need a deposit of £165 followed by twelve monthly payments of £60.

When is the first payment due?

[ S or U ]

reward:

Verbal abuse was hardly the payment I expected for my troubles.

back payment

an amount of money received by a person that has been owed to them, and especially money received by an employee because of a pay rise at an earlier time:

The company refused to give them their full pension, sick pay and other back payments.

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Ordinarily, we send a reminder about a month before payment is required.
My monthly mortgage payment is debited from my bank account on the 2nd of each month.
If you're in financial difficulty, we're happy to let you space out your payments over two years.
I've had a letter from the tax authorities concerning my tax payments.
Goods will be delivered on receipt of payment.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Earning money

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Prizes, rewards and medals

(Definition of payment from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

payment | American Dictionary

payment

noun [ C/U ]

/ˈpeɪ·mənt/

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an amount of money paid, or the act of paying:

[ C ] When is the first payment due?

[ U ] Usually we ask for payment when the order is placed.

(Definition of payment from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

payment | Business English

payment

noun

/ˈpeɪmənt/ us

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[ C ]

an amount of money that has been paid or is expected to be paid:

For the fiscal year ended February 28 2010, payments from Class A Shares amounted to $1,470.

mortgage/insurance/tax payments

a deferred/direct/lump-sum payment

a maximum/minimum payment

make a payment You will face interest charges if you don't make a payment within 30 days.

fall behind on/meet/miss a payment If you anticipate missing a payment, call your lender.

Any additional payments made to the employee's occupational pension will come from the pension fund.

When is the first payment due?

a salary/wage payment

a pension/redundancy payment

bond/interest/loan payments

We couldn't afford the monthly payments on the loan once interest rates rose.

[ U ]

the act of paying or being paid a sum of money:

immediate/late/prompt payment The company will charge for late payment.

accept/defer/receive payment

a payment plan/system

payment terms

a payment date/deadline

cash/direct debit payment

electronic/online payment

payment by cash/credit card Some airlines charge for payment by credit card.

New methods of payment are being introduced.

payment in advance/in full/in instalments

back payment

money that is paid to an employee because of a pay rise at an earlier time, or the act of paying this money:

I am due to receive back payments for the past six months' work.

an amount of money owed that has not been paid back by the expected time, or the act of paying this money:

Homeowners will be given 90 days to make back payments, to save the home from going to auction.

He was being pursued by the tax authorities for back payment of taxes.

payment by results (abbreviation PBR)

HR, WORKPLACE

a system of paying employees in which the amount paid varies according to the amount of work they do or the profit that is made

payment in kind

COMMERCE

a way of paying for something using goods and services instead of money:

The company agreed that the loan should be settled by payment in kind.

payment on account

an amount of money paid that is part of the total amount owed for something, or the act of paying in this way:

Tax is also due as the first payment on account for the tax year 2010-11.

payment on delivery (abbreviation POD); (also payment on receipt of goods)

COMMERCE

payment for goods that is received when they are delivered:

Many suppliers have begun demanding cash payment on delivery.

payment on invoice

COMMERCE

payment for goods and services that must be made after the buyer receives an invoice:

Terms are payment on invoice within 15 days of invoice date.

Compare

non-payment

(Definition of payment from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of payment

payment

Few would argue that the goal of reducing improper payments is not a worthy one.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Educational activities for both beneficiaries and other program participants also serve as an effective communication approach to help reduce improper payments and strengthen program operations.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Of those, 7.5 billion pieces were payments and 17.3 billion pieces were bills.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The final rule withdraws both exemptions and introduces three limited exemptions for permissible payments by employers to bona fide employees.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Eventually, the plan is to stop payments altogether.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They stood by their demands for back-dated bonus payments.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, settlement payments by the record company or publishing company are often in excess of £100,000, while the accountant's fees are measured in tens of thousands.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The question of payments to councillors will be considered below, but first we shall look in more detail at the results of the three surveys.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Personal evaluations occur bi-annually and are used to assess both changes in the basic wage and individual bonus payments.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The making of one-off ex gratia payments is not subject to judicial review.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Secondly, international trade involves receipts and payments in foreign currencies, unlike domestic trade which is conducted in the recognised national currency.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Resources, he stressed, ought to be spent on 'culture', education, roads and social welfare payments.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

During much of the period after 1964 policy was dominated by the state of the balance of payments.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Under a gold standard an overvalued currency giving rise to a weak balance of payments can be dealt with in two ways.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The plot of the income clearly shows the order payments and delivery payments corresponding to the delivery schedule.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of payment

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.