repay
/riːˈpeɪ
/ /rɪˈpeɪ/verb (past and past participle repaid) [with object]
1Pay back (a loan): the loans were to be repaid over a 20-year period...
- Making sure you can repay your mortgage loan is one of the most basic financial needs
- The loans were converted into shares when Orb Estates proved unable to repay the loans and under stock exchange rules Lynch Talbot was required to bid for the rest of the company at stg 60p.
- A plan loan must be secured so that, in the event the participant is unable to repay the loan, the security is available to satisfy the participant's outstanding loan obligation.
Synonyms
reimburse, refund, pay back, recompense, compensate, remunerate, square accounts with, settle up with, indemnify, pay off
rare recoup
pay back, return, refund, reimburse, give back
1.1Pay back money borrowed from (someone): most of his fortune had been spent repaying creditors...
- Contacted his ex-wife, his father, his mother, his siblings, his friends, his colleagues - anyone other than us - to borrow the money he needed to repay us.
- They give him enough money to repay Mary and to buy himself some new clothes.
- You exchange money for a promise from the bank to repay you, subject to whatever limitations and provisions you may have agreed to in advance.
1.2Do or give something as recompense for (a favour or kindness received): the manager has given me another chance and I’m desperate to repay that faith...
- For So Little Time, Coleman repays the favour, joining Otter's band for three of the album's eight tracks.
- Maybe we can hope that she'll repay the favour on their next outing.
- If William II visited John Peter in the west and John repaid the favour in London, we might inquire what opportunities for social broadening a visit by John or Will Peter to their London cousin entailed.
Synonyms
reciprocate, return, requite, recompense, reward;
return the favour, return the compliment
archaic guerdon
1.3British Be worth devoting time to (a specified action): these sites would repay more detailed investigation
Synonyms
be well worth;
be worth one's while, be worthwhile, be useful, be advantageous
Derivatives
repayable
/ adjective ...- These awards are interest-free loans, repayable over periods that vary from five to 12 years, depending on the size of loan.
- Its principal programs, especially the superjumbo A380, are funded through internal investment, the global investor community, and select repayable loans from some European governments.
- In most cases, the debt is repayable in a single ‘bullet’ payment in five years' time and carries an annual interest rate of 12% to 14%.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French repaier.