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Glite Dictionary
🏆 To bring success 💸 To clear debt 💰 To reward 🕵️ To bribe 😈 To get revenge
to pay off

to pay off

1 5.1
Take revenge on someone for a wrong
  • phrasal verb
  • /peɪ ɔf/
  • Informal
translation icon : vengarse de
  • She felt it was time to pay off her childhood enemies and settle the score.

Examples

  • In fear for their jobs and their lives, workers at El Coyote Mexican Café pooled together $500 to pay off the bullies.

    Blog text (19)

  • He goes against his uncle, and tells big man Yugorsky he will pay off my debt.

    Running Scared (2006)

  • After he was betrayed, James plotted to pay off those who wronged him.

  • The old feud finally ended when he decided to pay off his rival during their last confrontation.

Synonyms

to retaliate
vsto pay off
105 7.3

To hurt someone because they hurt you

is the same reactive harm but can be broader in motive
to avenge
vsto pay off
95 4.9

Punish someone who hurt you or someone you care about

shares punishment but is more personal than justice focused
to get back at
vsto pay off
  • Informal
77 5.6

To do something to hurt someone because they hurt you

is similar but often implies a stronger aim to settle matters
to get even
vsto pay off
  • Informal
46 5.4

To do something to hurt someone because they hurt you

focuses more on seeking personal settlement rather than fairness
to settle
vsto pay off
  • Offensive
36 8.6

To take revenge on someone who harmed you

is the same idea but often used for personal settling rather than formal response
to strike back
vsto pay off
34 4.9

To fight back after someone attacks or hurts you

is similar but less about counterforce and more about personal settling
to fix
vsto pay off
  • Informal
29 8.2

To get revenge on someone for something they did

is similar but often implies a more personal, decisive act
to get back
vsto pay off
  • Informal
24 4.2

Do something to hurt someone because they hurt you

is aligned but may carry more deliberate revenge intent
to pay back
vsto pay off
  • Informal
9 3.2

Do something to someone to hurt them for what they did

is the same act but often more planned or final in purpose
to revenge
vsto pay off
9 4.2

To harm someone because they hurt you or someone you care about

is similar but can include settling scores rather than punishment only
to settle a score
vsto pay off
  • Offensive
2 6.2

To get revenge for something someone did to you

is similar but may focus more on exact personal retaliation
to pay (someone) back in (their) own coin
vsto pay off
  • Informal
8.3

Treat someone in the same bad way they treated you

shares reciprocity but can aim for retribution beyond equal treatment
to pay off old scores
vsto pay off
  • Informal
8.2

To get revenge or settle a past wrong

is more about immediate retaliation than long past closure

Antonyms

to forgive
∞ 1.4

To stop feeling angry at someone or yourself for a mistake

to reconcile
38 5.1

To become friendly again after a disagreement

How Severe

to pay off
  • Informal
1 5.1
to revenge
9 4.2
to retaliate
105 7.3
to get even
  • Informal
46 5.4

Surface Forms

pay off infinitive
paid off past
paid off past participle
paying off present participle
pays off third person singular

Morphology

pay + off

The sense 'to take revenge' cannot be straightforwardly derived from 'pay' (transfer money) combined with 'off' (here noted as a slang verb 'to murder' or otherwise a particle). The relation is idiomatic and relies on pragmatic or slang usage rather than regular compositional rules, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would unlikely infer this meaning.

Etymology

Pay off meaning 'to take revenge' comes from the idea of 'paying back' a wrong: you pay someone off in return for what they did, so it means 'to get even'.