How to Use pay down in a Sentence

pay down

verb
  • Rogers plans to use the funds to pay down debt.
    — Kurt Badenhausen, Sportico.com, 22 Apr. 2026
  • Rebates or work to pay down the debt?
    — NBC news, 3 Aug. 2025
  • None of that felt like paying down a debt.
    — Big Think, 4 May 2026
  • One is to pay down your lines of credit.
    — Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 21 Mar. 2026
  • Hence, there was no urgent need to use the free cash flow to pay down debt.
    — Shivaram Rajgopal, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2024
  • Do these assets go to paying down debt or to the wealth fund?
    — Andy Mills, Quartz, 7 Feb. 2025
  • Trim your budget, pay down debt and add to your cash reserves.
    — Catherine Brock, Forbes, 18 Mar. 2025
  • The Casad farm is still paying down the debts from the last drought.
    — Emily Cureton Cook, ProPublica, 26 June 2026
  • Ariel took on extra shifts to make more money and pay down their debts.
    — Melissa Sanchez, ProPublica, 24 Oct. 2024
  • Even a small drop in your rate can free up cash to pay down debt faster or add to savings.
    — Essence, 14 Jan. 2026
  • Will that be used to pay down debt, help consumers, or be spent some other way?
    — Diane Brady, Fortune, 12 Aug. 2025
  • The company plans to use the proceeds to pay down debt.
    — Vicki M. Young, Footwear News, 28 Oct. 2025
  • The same is true for people who want to take out a car loan or pay down credit card debt.
    — Matt Egan, CNN Money, 22 May 2025
  • This may result in a stronger economy that can help pay down the debt.
    — Jack Kelly, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2024
  • The company plans to use the proceeds to buy back stock and pay down debt.
    — Fred Imbert, CNBC, 9 Dec. 2025
  • This money can now be used to build up your emergency fund or pay down debt.
    — Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 12 Aug. 2024
  • Another paid down credit card debt that had been a source of stress.
    — Benjamin F. Henwood, The Conversation, 2 Apr. 2026
  • Some will probably also be paid down with cash flow.
    — Emily Graffeo, Fortune, 11 Dec. 2025
  • Of those people, more than a quarter said paying down their debt would take a year or longer.
    — Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 28 June 2024
  • The alders who signed off on the letter also want to make sure the city is paying down its debts.
    — Lauren Victory, CBS News, 3 Dec. 2025
  • The best way to save money is to pay down as much credit card debt as possible.
    — Susan Tompor, USA Today, 24 Sep. 2025
  • The best way to save money is to pay down as much credit card debt as possible.
    — Susan Tompor, Freep.com, 17 Sep. 2025
  • The White Sox would pay down his salaries to enhance their return.
    — Ken Rosenthal, New York Times, 20 June 2025
  • The company needs to pay down debt, Allen said in a statement.
    — Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 2 June 2025
  • Because using your refund to pay down your balance may save you a mint.
    — Jeanne Sahadi, CNN Money, 7 Apr. 2026
  • Those bonds are paid down with sales tax revenue generated at the site.
    — Meagan Flynn, Washington Post, 12 Feb. 2024
  • High-interest debt such as credit cards or payday loans should be paid down first.
    — Mike Winters, CNBC, 20 Aug. 2025
  • His wife, Ada, is a novelist whose books have paid down the mortgage.
    — Lorraine Berry, Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 2023
  • Instead, use any breathing room to pay down debt or rebuild savings.
    — Staff Reports, USA Today, 7 June 2026
  • The net proceeds from that pullback, the company said, would be used to pay down its debt.
    — The Detroit News, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pay down.' 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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