to pay dues
1
6.0
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
pagar el precio
- While I can see that some Greek houses do tend to attract a certain type of member, many houses actually go to great lengths to make sure their members are financially comfortable when it comes to paying dues.
Like I've paid dues, but for me now it's like climbing the mountain.
- Like I've paid dues, but for me now it's like climbing the mountain.
- But these film makers have all paid dues.
- That's those other guys that make you pay dues.
Examples
-
If a student has an on-campus job to offset the cost of tuition, paying dues can seem like an added burden.
Blog text (8) -
You have paid dues; you can be anything, everything, no matter what it is you perceive.
Fiction book (1993) -
Like I've paid dues, but for me now it's like climbing the mountain.
-
Gutierrez said Greek organizations should cover the cost of dues for some members to be inclusive to all students, providing the example of a friend who could not accept a bid from a Panhellenic sorority due to her inability to pay dues.
Blog text (8) -
To achieve her dreams in acting, she knew she had to pay dues by taking on difficult roles.
-
Many successful entrepreneurs believe that you must pay dues before seeing the rewards of your hard work.
-
While training for the marathon, I had to pay dues through early morning runs and strict diets.
Synonyms
To work hard for a long time to earn respect or success
Antonyms
2
3.2
Stay away from things that make you feel nervous or worried to protect your health
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'pay' (to give money or suffer a consequence) and 'dues' (what is owed) transparently yield the literal sense of paying required fees, which a B1 learner would likely infer. However, the frequent idiomatic extension meaning 'to endure hardships or make necessary sacrifices' is a metaphorical shift from the literal payment sense and is not fully predictable without exposure, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Pay dues comes from clubs and unions where members had to give money called dues and often do hard work before they could gain a better place in the group. So, 'to pay dues' now means going through hard or necessary steps first to earn 'success' or 'recognition'.