How to Use payback in a Sentence

payback

noun
Definition of paybacknext
Synonyms for paybacknext
  • They beat our team last year, so we've got to beat them this year as payback.
  • Legends keep them in the soul, a pilot light for payback.
    — Sean Keeler, The Denver Post, 14 Feb. 2024
  • Now, Rasella wants payback—in the form of a class action suit.
    — Stephanie Mlot, PCMAG, 13 Apr. 2022
  • The cops are all paid off; the characters fear payback, not jail time.
    — Jennifer Wilson, The Atlantic, 10 Sep. 2021
  • And when this virus has run its course and we’re back to playing games, there will be payback.
    — Scott Ostler, SFChronicle.com, 11 Mar. 2020
  • Getting some payback sure would be a sweet start to the season.
    — Mark Heim | Mheim@al.com, al, 3 Sep. 2021
  • Neiman Marcus had asked for payback terms that phased out in 2026.
    — Dallas News, 25 May 2022
  • Angley later wrote in one of his many books that the storm was God’s payback.
    — Bill Lubinger, cleveland, 7 May 2021
  • The catch was payback for the Angels, who lost a homer to Hernández's glove on Monday.
    — Greg Beacham, Star Tribune, 6 July 2021
  • Acuña got some payback by stealing his 15th base in the second. ...
    — George Henry, ajc, 19 June 2021
  • Houston wants some payback for the way the Heat drilled them in Miami.
    — Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, 27 Nov. 2019
  • In the most simplistic sense, UCLA has gotten its karmic payback in the last two weeks.
    — Dan Wolken, USA TODAY, 29 Mar. 2021
  • Scenes of bloody payback are a common motif in Goines’ books.
    — Bill McGraw, Detroit Free Press, 2 Jan. 2022
  • The payback period could be three to five years for retrofits and longer for new builds, Mr. Allwright said.
    — Cara Buckley, New York Times, 3 Oct. 2023
  • This comes in the form of quid-pro-quo political payback to donors.
    — Anchorage Daily News, 17 Mar. 2022
  • Call it karmic payback for the teams playing Sunday’s game in a snappy 1:57.
    — Peter Abraham, BostonGlobe.com, 17 Apr. 2023
  • After all, there's the little matter of payback for the murder of 007's wife.
    — Chris Nashawaty, EW.com, 29 May 2024
  • Spend is already at a 15-year low and the focus is on short-cycle, quick-payback projects.
    — Wood MacKenzie, Forbes, 10 June 2021
  • Customers are on the hook for repaying the loans, and the payback period could stretch for as long as 30 years.
    — Jennifer Hiller, WSJ, 11 Dec. 2022
  • Should the pirate king hide out in the Caribbean or head to England for payback?
    — Sean Kingsley, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Apr. 2024
  • Now that baseball has returned, the Dodgers’ first move should consist of payback.
    — Los Angeles Times, 10 Mar. 2022
  • The payback period to recoup the cost of the system would simply take too long.
    — Joseph Truini, Popular Mechanics, 27 July 2019
  • While a win offers a total cash payout, a loss means 100% payback in the form of a Barstool bet credit.
    — cleveland, 7 Jan. 2023
  • Phoenix has to get used to facing teams that wanted payback from a season ago.
    — Duane Rankin, The Arizona Republic, 20 Oct. 2021
  • Is this just gonna be a big payback for people that funded campaigns?
    — Laura Johnston, cleveland, 21 Nov. 2022
  • The news that the robbers took Abby’s charm bracelet flips a switch in Hutch, though, sending him into the big, bad city for payback.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 24 Mar. 2021
  • For the plan to work, lawmakers would have to change state law to extend the payments from casinos to cover the 30-year payback of the bonds.
    — Pamela Wood, baltimoresun.com, 5 Oct. 2019
  • As payback, Antoine gave his dad a cup of toilet water with ice cubes in it.
    — Emily Davies, Washington Post, 1 Nov. 2022
  • Maxime plans to abduct Gru Jr. as payback, which is a far cry from the early threats of extermination, but still evil.
    — Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 June 2024
  • Private Jet Card Comparisons, which receives no commission or paybacks from providers in the report, doesn’t perform financial due diligence on the providers.
    — Michael Verdon, Robb Report, 7 Aug. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'payback.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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