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old-age pension

old-age pension

3.2
A regular payment from the government or an employer to someone who has retired
  • noun
  • /oʊld eɪdʒ ˈpɛnʃən/
  • UK
translation icon : pensión de jubilación
  • The government provides a regular old-age pension to help retirees meet their financial needs.
  • the basic old-age pension
  • old-age pension scheme
  • old-age pension system

Examples

  • A means-tested old age pension scheme operates in all Indian states.

    Academic text (1998)
  • In addition, the monthly payment into the basic old-age pension system is being raised yearly because the government is worried about paying future entitlements.

    Academic text (1991)
  • In China, there are small old age pensions now for families that have only daughters.

  • Maybe your employer has an old-age pension plan for his employees.

    Blog text (28)
  • Members of the basic old-age pension plan will continue to receive benefits at age 65.

    Academic text (1991)
  • The coverage of the old-age pension scheme varies considerably among the states.

    Academic text (1998)
  • For a majority of American workers in private industry, Social Security entitlements are their only old-age pension.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Particularly relevant in the present context are old-age pensions and subsidized life insurance, as they provide a modicum of social security to the poor.

    Academic text (1998)
  • In 1949, all five Scandinavian countries agreed to provide old-age pensions to citizens of other Nordic nations.

    Academic text (1998)
  • A high percentage of those not covered are women, especially in the category of old-age pensions (Arellano 1989).

    Academic text (1999)

Synonyms

pension
vsold-age pension
517 3.2

A regular payment from the government or a company to a person who has retired to help pay living costs

is limited to payments for people who retired because of age
retirement benefit
vsold-age pension
11 3.4

A regular payment someone gets after they stop working, often from a pension

is specifically for people who have stopped work due to age
retirement pension
vsold-age pension
1 2.7

A regular payment to people who have stopped working, often from the government or an employer

is aimed specifically at people who stop work because of old age
retirement check
vsold-age pension
  • US
1 3.1

Regular monthly money a person gets after they stop working

is the age-related regular income paid by government or employer
superannuation
vsold-age pension
  • UK
1 9.7

Regular payments a retired worker gets from a pension fund

is paid by state or employer specifically for older people leaving work

Surface Forms

Morphology

old-age + pension

The meaning is transparently compositional: 'old-age' refers to being elderly and 'pension' to a regular payment, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer it is a regular payment for people of old age/retirees. This noun-compound pattern is common and cross-linguistically parallel (e.g. Spanish 'pensión de vejez', French 'pension de vieillesse'), making the expression predictable for B1 learners.

Etymology

Old-age pension may come from a long-time practice where rulers or employers gave retired soldiers or servants a small regular payment so they could live after they stopped work. The parts old-age (being old) and pension (a steady pay) create the image, so the phrase now means 'a regular payment made by the government or an employer to a person who has retired because of age'.