repay

• IPA ^(key): /ɹiˈpeɪ/
• Audio (US ): (file)
• Rhymes: -eɪ

From Old French repaier ("to pay back "), from re- + paiier ("to pay "), from Latin pācāre ("to settle, to make peaceful "), from pāx ("peace ") + -ō (forming verbs). Equivalent to re- +‎ pay . Cognate with repacify and French repayer ("to pay again ").

repay (third-person singular simple present repays , present participle repaying , simple past and past participle repaid )

1. Synonym of pay back in all senses .

   I finally repaid my student loans, just before sending my kids to college.

   I'll repay this wrong asap.

   • 1707, Isaac Watts, "Godly Sorrow arising from the Sufferings of Christ", in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, London: J. Humfreys, page 86:

     But drops of Grief can ne’re repay / The debt of Love I owe, [...]

   • 1962 April, "Talking of Trains: Short-sighted approach to profits?", in Modern Railways, page 219:

     On the results of the Kent Coast electrification, which is known to be repaying so far a satisfactory return on the investment in it, a Waterloo-Bournemouth scheme shows reasonable financial promise.

   • 1973, Billy Paul, "Thanks for Saving My Life", in War of the Gods :

     I was low as low could go / Could not stand anymore / Oh, I could never, never / Never, never repay you

   • 2025 November 13, Kamala Thiagarajan, "If you're going to be kind to another human, today is the day to do it!", in NPR ‎^[1] :

     Returning to the school years later, Diakabana discovered it was a school guard. She wanted to repay him. "He told me to help others when I could, so I launched a scholarship program," says Diakabana, who now lives in Switzerland and is co-founder of The Luminous Agency, which focuses on digital literacy.

2. (transitive ) To make worthwhile; to yield a result worth the effort; to pay off.
   • 2013, M. Pavone-MacAluso, Testicular Cancer and Other Tumors of the Genitourinary Tract, page 517:

     The possible importance of excessive androgen secretion and the ingestion of agents such as the fluorenamines may repay further investigation.

3. (transitive ) To give in return; requite.

repay (third-person singular simple present repays , present participle repaying , simple past and past participle repayed or repaid )

1. (nautical ) To pay (cover with tar, pitch, etc.) again.

• Payer , Peary , apery , payer , peary , praye , rapey

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