How to Use payback in a Sentence

payback

noun
  • They beat our team last year, so we've got to beat them this year as payback.
  • Any kid on the school yard will tell you that paybacks are hell.
    — Chad Pergram, Fox News, 27 June 2018
  • Some of the fallout was payback.
    — Frank Digiacomo, HollywoodReporter, 8 May 2026
  • Well, here’s their chance at proper payback.
    — Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2025
  • Getting some payback sure would be a sweet start to the season.
    — Mark Heim | [email protected], al, 3 Sep. 2021
  • Now, the payback period could be as short as two to three years.
    — Carolyn Stein, Chicago Tribune, 27 June 2026
  • The cops are all paid off; the characters fear payback, not jail time.
    — Jennifer Wilson, The Atlantic, 10 Sep. 2021
  • But maybe that was the payback for Hall on Sanderson.
    — James Mirtle, New York Times, 27 Apr. 2026
  • Maybe all these injuries were payback for the good fortune of the past few seasons.
    — Dave Hyde, Sun Sentinel, 6 Feb. 2026
  • This comes in the form of quid-pro-quo political payback to donors.
    — Anchorage Daily News, 17 Mar. 2022
  • Now, Rasella wants payback—in the form of a class action suit.
    — Stephanie Mlot, PCMAG, 13 Apr. 2022
  • Scenes of bloody payback are a common motif in Goines’ books.
    — Bill McGraw, Detroit Free Press, 2 Jan. 2022
  • Watch and learn Pro Bowl Week was all about payback — in a good way.
    — Stephen Ruiz, OrlandoSentinel.com, 27 Jan. 2018
  • And right on cue, Canelo came out with hate in his eyes and payback in his blue and white gloves.
    — Bob Velin, USA TODAY, 7 May 2017
  • Angley later wrote in one of his many books that the storm was God’s payback.
    — Bill Lubinger, cleveland, 7 May 2021
  • In this world, there’s nothing quite as fierce as a scorned ex or an old rival looking for payback.
    — Okla Jones, Essence, 21 Aug. 2025
  • But Bolton wouldn’t go that far, even after 100 days of payback.
    — Sean Rameswaram, Vox, 2 May 2025
  • As a result, fixing those issues shrinks your solar needs and speeds up your payback.
    — Dianne Plummer, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
  • The payback could come in the draft as the third running back taken in the top 10 in the past four years.
    — ABC News, 25 Feb. 2026
  • Neiman Marcus had asked for payback terms that phased out in 2026.
    — Dallas News, 25 May 2022
  • 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
  • Spend is already at a 15-year low and the focus is on short-cycle, quick-payback projects.
    — Wood MacKenzie, Forbes, 10 June 2021
  • There needs to be fairness and payback in taking care of New Jersey.
    — Gerard Gayou, WSJ, 20 July 2018
  • Houston wants some payback for the way the Heat drilled them in Miami.
    — Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, 27 Nov. 2019
  • Experts said the loans were unusually large, and the timing of the payback was strange.
    — John Hanna, The Seattle Times, 13 Aug. 2018
  • No franchise in football, and few in sports, have begged more patience from fans with so little payback across so much time.
    — Miami Herald, 16 Feb. 2026
  • DeLeskey and his teammates are hoping for payback.
    — Brendan Connelly, Boston Herald, 22 Nov. 2025
  • So as long as the earnings continue to outpace estimates there may not be much payback in the near term.
    — Michael Santoli, CNBC, 9 Feb. 2026
  • Collect and present clean data, new-unit payback period, prime costs, same-store sales traffic trends etc.
    — Gary Occhiogrosso, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025

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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