Meaning & use
periodic payment
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Meanings
nouncountablefinancebusiness
An amount of money that someone pays at regular intervals, such as every month or every year.
Grammar: Countable: say 'a periodic payment' or 'periodic payments'; it is often followed by 'of' plus an amount or 'on' plus the thing being paid for.
Patterns
- a periodic payment of $200
- make periodic payments
- periodic payments on a loan
The loan is repaid through periodic payments of $450 a month.
Her pension plan converts her savings into periodic payments after she retires.
The contract allows periodic payments instead of one large sum.
nouncountablebusinessfinance
A sum paid again and again for a service or right, especially under a contract or subscription.
Grammar: Countable and usually plural when talking about a series; the singular form names one of those sums.
Patterns
- periodic payments for something
- periodic payments to someone
- receive periodic payments
The software is licensed for a yearly periodic payment rather than a single purchase.
Landowners receive periodic payments for the right to run cables across their fields.
Late periodic payments may lead to extra charges.
Word forms
| plural | periodic payments |
|---|
Common combinations
- make a periodic payment
- Borrowers must make a periodic payment on the first day of each month.
- monthly periodic payment
- The monthly periodic payment covers interest and part of the principal.
- periodic payment plan
- The utility offers a periodic payment plan that spreads winter bills over the year.
- periodic payment of interest
- The bond provides for the periodic payment of interest to holders.
- receive periodic payments
- After the settlement, she began to receive periodic payments from the insurer.
Synonyms and how they differ
- installment
- Use 'installment' when the money is one part of a fixed total being paid off; 'periodic payment' is broader and can go on indefinitely.
- regular payment
- This is the everyday, less technical way to say the same thing, suitable for conversation rather than contracts.
- annuity
- An annuity is a financial product that produces a stream of payments, so it names the arrangement, not each single payment.
Opposites
Word family
- periodically adverb
- At regular intervals; 'the fee is charged periodically'.
- period noun
- A length of time, or the interval between repeated events.
Commonly confused: periodic payment or periodical?
periodic payment vs periodical
A 'periodical' is a magazine or journal published at regular intervals, not a payment; the two words sound similar but belong to different topics.
Practice
Choose the best sentence.
Choose one answer.
'A payment of $900' is the standard pattern for stating an amount. 'For $900' suggests the payment is made in exchange for $900, 'to $900' is ungrammatical, and 'at $900' would describe a price or rate rather than the sum paid.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “periodic payment”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.