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Glite Dictionary
to pay dues

to pay dues

1 6.0
Do hard work and make sacrifices before you succeed
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
translation icon : 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.

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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.

    Film Courage

  • 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 pay one's dues
vsto pay dues
7.1

To work hard for a long time to earn respect or success

is the same meaning but expressed without the possessive pronoun

Antonyms

shortcut
122 1.6

A quicker way to get somewhere to save time

to avoid stress
2 3.2

Stay away from things that make you feel nervous or worried to protect your health

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

pay + due

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'.