pension
noun · verb
Simple meaning
An annuity paid regularly as benefit due to a retired employee, serviceman etc.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pehnshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɛnʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
finance
An annuity paid regularly as benefit due to a retired employee, serviceman etc. in consideration of past services, originally and chiefly by a government but also by various private pension schemes.
A boarding house or small hotel, especially in continental Europe, which typically offers lodging and certain meals and services.
A sum paid to a clergyman in place of tithes.
verb
transitive
To grant a pension to.
transitive
To force (someone) to retire on a pension.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An annuity paid regularly as benefit due to a retired employee, serviceman etc. in consideration of past services, originally and chiefly by a government but also by various private pension schemes.
Used this way, pension is a specialist word with a mildly favourable edge. This is a financial use: it has a settled meaning in accounting and business, where precision matters more than colour.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Finance/economics
- Business/professional
- Government/politics
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use pension
- “After working for many years, he looked forward to his comfortable pension.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The beneficiary of a pension fund.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A fund reserved to pay workers' pensions when they retire from service.
A plan for setting aside money to be spent after retirement.
Let go from employment with an attractive pension.
A plan for setting aside money to be spent after retirement.
A monthly payment made to someone who is retired from work.
A monthly payment made to someone who is retired from work.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.