Meaning & use
deductible
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableAmericanfinance
The sum of money you must pay yourself on a claim before an insurer starts to pay.
Grammar: A countable noun: a 500-dollar deductible. British English often says excess.
Patterns
- pay a deductible
- meet your deductible
My car insurance has a 500-dollar deductible.
You must meet your deductible before the plan pays anything.
A lower deductible means higher monthly premiums.
adjectivecomparablefinance
Allowed to be taken off your taxable income or a total before tax is worked out.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: a deductible expense, the cost is deductible.
Patterns
- tax-deductible
Charitable gifts are deductible from your income.
Work travel is a deductible expense.
Gifts to friends are not deductible.
adjectivenot comparableformalrare
Able to be worked out logically from known facts.
Grammar: Rare and formal; the usual word is deducible.
The conclusion is deductible from the evidence.
Little is deductible from such sparse data.
Word forms
| plural | deductibles |
|---|
Common combinations
- meet the deductible
- After you meet the deductible, the insurer pays eighty percent.
- high deductible
- A high deductible keeps the premium cheap.
- tax-deductible
- Donations are tax-deductible.
- annual deductible
- The annual deductible resets every January.
- pay the deductible
- You pay the deductible first when the car is repaired.
Synonyms and how they differ
- excess
- Excess is the British term for the same insurance payment, while deductible is the American one.
- co-pay
- A co-pay is a fixed fee for each visit or service, whereas a deductible is a total you pay first.
- allowable
- Allowable means permitted in general, but deductible is specific to subtracting an amount.
- write-off
- Write-off is informal for an expense counted against taxes, while deductible is the formal adjective.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: deductible or deducible? deductible or premium?
deductible vs deducible
Deducible means able to be concluded by reasoning. Deductible refers to money that can be subtracted.
deductible vs premium
A premium is the regular price you pay for insurance, while the deductible is what you pay when you claim.
Practice
The policy pays only after you cover the first 1,000 dollars, which is called the ___.
Choose one answer.
The deductible is the amount you pay before the insurer starts paying. A premium is the regular cost of the policy, so it is the tempting wrong answer.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “deductible”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.