payback

See also: pay back

English

Etymology

Deverbal from pay back.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪbæk/
Audio (Southern England): (file)

Noun

payback (usually uncountable, plural paybacks)

(uncountable) An act of revenge.
They beat us last year, so this year's win was payback.
(countable) A benefit, reward, a form of recompense.
- 2009 February 2, Carol Goar, “You can help cleaners earn decent wages”, in Toronto Star‎^[1]:
  They identify three tangible paybacks.
A return on investment.
(rare) A refund; reimbursement.

Synonyms

(repayment): repayment
(revenge): getback, revenge, repayment, reprisal, just deserts, poetic justice

Derived terms

Translations

an act of revenge — see also revenge

Arabic: please add this translation if you can
Catalan: venjança (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 報復 / 报复 (zh) (bàofù)
Finnish: takaisinmaksu (fi), kosto (fi)
German: Rache (de) f, Revanche (de) f
Japanese: please add this translation if you can
Portuguese: forra (pt) f (Brazil), troco (pt) m
Russian: месть (ru) f (mestʹ), воздая́ние (ru) n (vozdajánije), возме́здие (ru) n (vozmézdije)
Spanish: venganza (es) f, desquite (es) m, revancha (es) f
Ukrainian: відплата (vidplata)

a form of recompense

Arabic: please add this translation if you can
Catalan: retorn (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 報酬 / 报酬 (zh) (bàochóu)
Finnish: kompensaatio (fi)
German: Rückzahlung (de) f, Rückerstattung (de) f
Japanese: please add this translation if you can
Portuguese: retorno (pt) m
Romanian: rambursare (ro) f
Russian: вознагражде́ние (ru) n (voznagraždénije), награ́да (ru) f (nagráda)
Spanish: recompensa (es) f
Ukrainian: винагорода (vynahoroda)

return on investment — see return on investment

refund — see refund

reimbursement — see reimbursement

Verb

payback

Misspelling of pay back.

See also

Anagrams

back pay, backpay

Gullah

Etymology

From English payback.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /peː.bæk/

Noun

payback

prize

References

De Nyew Testament‎^[2], Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc., 2025