pension

[pen-shuh n; French pahn-syawn for 3] /ˈpɛn ʃən; French pɑ̃ˈsyɔ̃ for 3/
noun, plural pensions
[pen-shuh nz; French pahn-syawn for 3] /ˈpɛn ʃənz; French pɑ̃ˈsyɔ̃ for 3/ (Show IPA)
1.
a fixed amount, other than wages, paid at regular intervals to a person or to the person's surviving dependents in consideration of past services, age, merit, poverty, injury or loss sustained, etc.:
a retirement pension.
2.
an allowance, annuity, or subsidy.
3.
  1. a boardinghouse or small hotel.
  2. room and board.
verb (used with object)
4.
to grant or pay a pension to.
5.
to cause to retire on a pension (usually followed by off).
Origin
1325-75; Middle English (< Old French pensïon) < Latin pēnsiōn- (stem of pēnsiō) a weighing out, hence, a paying out, installment paying, equivalent to pēns(us) (past participle of pendere to weigh out, pay by weight, equivalent to pend- verb stem + -tus past participle suffix, with dt > s) + -iōn- -ion
Related forms
pensionable, adjective
pensionably, adverb
pensionless, adjective
nonpensionable, adjective
unpensionable, adjective
unpensioned, adjective
unpensioning, adjective
well-pensioned, adjective
Examples from the web for pensions
  • All private, local, state and federal pensions are fully taxed.
  • We could eliminate starvation rapidly, if governments could agree on common taxation to pay for pensions.
  • We need more people today to keep labor costs down and pensions afloat, and we'll figure out how to feed them later.
  • These will include difficult to people s retirement pensions.
  • The entire city budget will be needed to maintain the pensions of former employees.
  • Many unions have their pensions tied into energy stocks.
  • Only a fraction of the workforce receives unemployment benefits, while pensions are underfunded and haphazardly administered.
  • And yet they were demanding that the workers give up baseline benefits, such as health care and pensions.
  • He ran on promises to increase government expenditure on pensions and other welfare measures.
  • Jealousy about the pensions of government workers spurs you to fight for your own pensions.
British Dictionary definitions for pensions

pension1

/ˈpɛnʃən/
noun
1.
a regular payment made by the state to people over a certain age to enable them to subsist without having to work
2.
a regular payment made by an employer to former employees after they retire
3.
a regular payment made to a retired person as the result of his or her contributions to a personal pension scheme
4.
any regular payment made on charitable grounds, by way of patronage, or in recognition of merit, service, etc: a pension paid to a disabled soldier
verb
5.
(transitive) to grant a pension to
Derived Forms
pensionable, adjective
pensionless, adjective
Word Origin
C14: via Old French from Latin pēnsiō a payment, from pendere to pay

pension2

/pɑ̃sjɔ̃/
noun (in France and some other countries)
1.
a relatively cheap boarding house
2.
another name for full board
Word Origin
C17: French; extended meaning of pension grant; see pension1
Word Origin and History for pensions

pension

n.

mid-14c., "payment for services," especially "reward, payment out of a benefice" (early 14c., in Anglo-Latin), from Old French pension "payment, rent" (13c.) and directly from Latin pensionem (nominative pensio) "a payment, installment, rent," from past participle stem of pendere "pay, weigh" (see pendant). Meaning "regular payment in consideration of past service" first recorded 1520s. Meaning "boarding house, boarding school" first attested 1640s, from French, and usually in reference to places in France or elsewhere on the Continent.

v.

1640s, "to live in a pension," from pension (n.) or else from French pensionner. Meaning "to grant a pension" is from 1702. Related: Pensioned; pensioning.

pensions in Culture

pension definition


Payments made to a retired person either by the government or by a former employer.