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Glite Dictionary
🚧 A content barrier 🚧 To restrict access
paywall

paywall

6 5.5
A system that stops people from reading online articles unless they pay
  • noun
  • /ˈpeɪˌwɔl/
  • Texting
: muro de pago
  • Many news websites now use a paywall to charge visitors for premium articles.
  • content behind paywalls

Because I'm familiar with the paywall created by the institutions that hold these publications.

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Examples

  • The editorial, unfortunately, is behind a paywall but is also available for free on the site.

    Blog text (5)

  • For a publisher behind a paywall, links are in the top three sources of referral.

    Blog text (9)

  • The reason that it is behind a paywall is that it is published in a scientific journal.

    Blog text (9)

  • The first problem I hit with a paywall model was how to attract new readers.

    Blog text (11)

  • On the bright side, the NYT's paywall program is generating substantial amounts of revenue.

    Blog text (24)

  • So far, tearing down the paywalls around higher education has been the simple part.

    Blog text (4)

  • My objection to today's paywalls is that paying would require me to identify myself.

    Blog text (8)

  • Prospective buyers will be poring over the Financial Times' own financials, especially its paywall and digital strategies.

    Blog text (30)

  • Rupert Murdoch's attempts at paywalls have, so far, not paid off.

    Blog text (25)

  • As an online publisher who has been behind a paywall from the outset, Rupert Murdoch is right.

    Blog text (9)

Synonyms

walled garden
vspaywall
  • Jargon
3 7.9

A closed online space a company controls to limit access and sharing

restricts access only when users must pay rather than for platform control

Antonyms

free
∞ 1.0

Not costing any money

How Restricted

paywall
  • Texting
6 5.5
freemium
  • Texting
2 4.4

Surface Forms

paywall singular
paywalls plural

Morphology

paywall = pay + wall (semi-transparent) = pay + wall

The compound is understandable as a barrier that requires payment, but the access-control meaning is metaphorical rather than literal.

Etymology

The word paywall comes from combining pay ('to give money') and wall ('barrier'). So a paywall is like a wall that stops you from reading unless you pay.