payout

/ˈpeɪˌɑʊt/

Other forms: payouts

When money is handed over it's a payout. Not only does your favorite professional basketball player have a huge salary, he also gets a $50,000 payout if his team makes the quarterfinals!

Payout usually refers to money paid as a prize, an investment dividend, or an insurance settlement. You'll probably get a large insurance payout after a tree falls on your house, but you'll have to wait a while. And don't expect any kind of payout from a lottery ticket — the odds of winning a jackpot are extremely low! Payout originally referred to oil wells: the cost of drilling was only worthwhile if the eventual payout would be high.

Definitions of payout

1. noun

   the act of spending or distributing money
   synonyms: disbursal, disbursement, outlay, spending

   types:

   expending, expenditure

   the act of spending money for goods or services

   compensatory spending, deficit spending, pump priming

   spending money raised by borrowing; used by governments to stimulate their economy

   type of:

   defrayal, defrayment, payment

   the act of paying money
2. noun

   a large amount of money given as a dividend or compensation to company shareholders