The Phrasal Verb 'Pay Off' Explained
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'pay off' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context
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This is a post all about the phrasal verb 'pay off' - what it means in English and how to use it. This commonly used phrasal verb has at least three different meanings that can be used to talk about things as diverse as debts, results and bribery. In the post, I will explain how each application is used and give you lots of examples so that, by the end of it, you will be an expert in all things to do with 'pay off'. So, let's get started and find out what it means....
QUICK ANSWER: What does the phrasal verb 'pay off' mean?The phrasal verb 'pay off' has three main meaning in English....
Keep reading to learn how to use each meaning..... |
TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one)
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THE BASICS
PAY OFF: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 3 |
Past tense forms | Paid off / Paid off |
Separable? | Yes |
When you read the words 'pay' and 'off', what do you understand by them? Do you know what the verb 'to pay' means and what significance 'off' has in phrasal verb constructions? Let's first take a minute to look at these two words individually and find out....
Pay - The verb 'to pay' is surely one that you are very familiar with and will probably understand as meaning 'to give money in exchange for goods or a service'. While this is absolutely correct, did you also know that 'to pay' can also be used for non-monetary giving? For example, we can pay attention or pay heed, or we can can pay our respects to someone when they die and in all of these it carries an idea of giving something. In addition, it can also be used to talk about something having either good or bad consequences. 'To pay' is a slightly irregular verb and takes 'paid' as its post simple and past participle forms.
Let me take you out for dinner; I will pay!
We can't afford to pay our bills this month.
The company paid for me to do a training course in marketing.
Please pay careful attention to what I am about to tell you.
You will pay for what you have done! I will not forget this.
Crime doesn't pay.
Off - The prepositional particle 'off' is one that frequently occurs in phrasal verbs and can add many different meanings to the verb that it is paired with. Some of its more relevant meanings for the phrasal verb 'pay off' are finishing something (finish off, polish off), cancellation (call off), separation (cut off) and a successful outcome (come off).
Let's now move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'pay off'....
MEANING 1: To finish paying for something
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To clear, to pay up, to settle, |
Separable? | Yes |
As I mentioned earlier in the Basics section, the verb 'to pay' is primarily used for exchanging money for a product or service and this first application of the phrasal verb 'pay off' is linked to this as it means 'to finish paying for something'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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To give you some clarification on this first meaning of 'pay off', you should know that we tend to use it when talking about something that is repaid in instalments over a period of time. This is typically a credit agreement like a credit card or mortgage, or it could be a debt that you owe to a company or individual and which you cannot afford to pay all in one single payment.
Once the final payment has been made and the remaining amount to pay is zero, we can say that the amount or the debt "has been paid off". This can be a really great feeling, especially if you have been making payments over a long period, as you feel a huge sense of financial freedom 😁
On a grammatical note, this usage is a separable one and the loan, debt or amount to be paid can either go between 'pay' and 'off' or after them.
Example sentences....
It took us nearly twenty years to pay off our mortgage.
Abigail borrowed £2,000 from her parents but paid it off within six months.
I'm trying to pay my credit card debt off before Christmas.
Mike finally paid off his student loan last year.
We still owe quite a lot on the car, but we should pay it off by next summer.
They used their savings to pay their debts off.
How long did it take you to pay off that loan?
Once Lucy has paid the mortgage off, she'll have much more money to spend each month.
I've been paying off my debts little by little for the past two years.
MEANING 2: To have good results
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To be worth it, to bear fruit |
Separable? | No |
Let's now move on to the second meaning of the phrasal verb 'pay off', which is a really nice and positive one that means 'to have good results'.
This second application is a very frequently used one that is heard particularly often in reference to work, both in the employment sense and the sense of putting effort into something. If you work hard at something and you get good results as a consequence, you can say that "your hard work has paid off".
For example, if you spend many hours, days, weeks and months setting up and launching a new business, which then makes you rich, your efforts have paid off. Likewise, if you spend a lot of time studying English phrasal verbs and then you impress a native speaker with your advanced knowledge and vocabulary, you can say that your hard work has paid off. I definitely recommend doing the second one, by the way 😜
Unlike the first application, this one is not a separable usage.
Example sentences....
All the hard work finally paid off when my sister passed her exams.
Keep practising; your efforts will pay off eventually.
Kevin's decision to learn German really paid off when he was offered a job in Berlin.
We spent months preparing for the launch, but it paid off in the end.
Tracey's been training every day and all that hard work is starting to pay off.
Their investment in new technology has already paid off.
Studying a little every day can pay off in the long run.
The team's patience paid off when they scored in the final minute.
I wasn't sure whether the changes would work, but they really paid off.
MEANING 3: To pay someone to be quiet or leave
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To bribe |
Separable? | Yes |
We are returning to the idea of paying money for our third and final meaning of the phrasal verb 'pay off' as this one means 'to pay someone to be quiet or to leave'.
For this final application, we can divide it into two main sub-meanings: the formal one and the informal one.
We will start with the formal one which is one that you typically find in business English. In a company or organisation when an employee is no longer required or needs to be made redundant in order for it to save money, the company may pay the no-longer needed person the rest of what they have earned and discharge them from the organisation. In such cases, we can say that the company paid the employee off.
It may seem to you that this meaning is the same as 'to make someone redundant' but you should note that there is a slight difference between them. When we use 'to make someone redundant', the focus is on the idea that the person's job or position has disappeared and is no longer required but with 'pay someone off', the focus is more on the idea that the company pays the person and terminates their contract.
Example sentences....
The company paid off twenty workers when the factory closed.
Several employees were paid off after the company decided to cut production.
They paid Tim off after his position was made redundant.
The firm is planning to pay off some of its workers at the end of the month.
When the shipyard downsized, hundreds of workers were paid off.
Marina was paid off after fifteen years with the company and received a redundancy payment.
Now, let's turn our attention to 'pay off' in the informal sense, which is one that tends to be used for slightly naughtier or illegal reasons. If, for any reason, someone wants another person to be quiet about something and not say anything about it, they may offer them some money in exchange for their silence. When they commit this sort of bribery, guess what phrasal verb we can use to describe it....correct it's 'pay off'.
This is not only used when you want another person to stay quiet about something; it can be used to describe any time that a person is bribed with money to persuade them to not do something, such as cause problems, reveal information or continue bothering someone.
For instance, an office worker who discovered the CEO of the company having a romantic affair with their secretary may be offered some money by the CEO to keep quiet about what they saw. If the office worker accepted, you could say that the CEO paid them off. Likewise, someone who is being threatened or blackmailed may pay the person off to leave them alone....this usage is classic TV series or movie material!
On a grammatical note, this usage is separable and it normally requires a person or subject that often goes between 'pay' and 'off'.
Example sentences....
The CEO tried to pay the office worker off so that she wouldn't tell anyone what she had seen.
The businessman paid off a witness to keep him quiet.
They offered to pay him off if he agreed to leave them alone.
Jeremy thought he could pay them off and make the problem disappear.
The company was accused of paying off people who knew about the scandal.
They tried to pay the journalist off before she published the story.
You can't just pay me off and expect me to forget what happened.
Someone had clearly paid him off to keep his mouth shut.
They eventually paid the man off to stop him causing trouble.
BONUS: The noun 'pay-off'
Did you know that the noun 'pay-off' also exists and has at least two distinct meanings....
A reward - A 'pay-off' can mean a reward for something or the positive benefit that someone receives after an investment, hard work or a big effort. It is often preceded by an adjective and is derived directly from the second phrasal verb meaning that we looked at earlier.
Example sentences....
Winning the competition was a wonderful pay-off for all her hard work.
The financial pay-off could be huge if the project succeeds.
After years of training, Martin finally got the pay-off he had been hoping for.
A job termination or bribe - This one links back to the usage of 'pay off' meaning to pay someone to leave a company or as a bribe to stop someone doing or saying something.
Example sentences....
The witness was offered a large pay-off to keep quiet.
The chief executive received a £2 million pay-off when he left the company.
They suspected that someone had given the official a pay-off.
We have now reached the end of this post and I hope that you have found it useful and that it has helped you to understand how to use the phrasal verb 'pay off' more confidently and naturally.
Feel free to leave any comments, feedback or your own sentences using 'pay off' in the section below. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media.
Do you want to improve your phrasal verb skills?Now that you have read the article, I hope you've learned something new. However, reading is only the first step to mastering phrasal verbs: the key is practice and repetition. That's why I've created a series of PDF workbooks with clear explanations, natural example sentences, exercises, speaking questions and answer keys. This will help you understand and remember common English phrasal verbs and use them confidently in real-life situations. Browse the workbooks here and start improving your phrasal verbs skills today.... |
Thanks so much for reading and see you next time! James 😊
THE END
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