noun
fee
fee
noun
1
A charge or payment required for a service, privilege, or right.
"The university charges an application fee of fifty dollars."
"There's a small fee for withdrawing cash from this machine."
2
(law) An inheritable right or ownership interest in land.
"The property was held in fee simple by the family for generations."
How to Use Fee
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishMoney you pay for a service or privilege — the legal land-ownership sense is a specialist, older meaning.
Common pairings
pay a fee
admission fee
late fee
fee simple
Word Forms
feed past tense, fees plural, fees singular
Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Flow — saved to your collection.
Test yourself on “fee”
A quick quiz — meaning, synonyms & usage
→
Fill the Gap
Can you complete this real example?
The university charges an application _____ of fifty dollars.
Etymology
From Old English feoh ("cattle, property, money"), blended with Old French fief — both ultimately from a Germanic word for livestock, since animals were once a measure of wealth.