noun
pension
PEHNSHN
noun
1
A regular payment made to someone after they retire, based on their years of work.
"She retired at 65 and now lives on her pension."
"The company pension covers about half of his old salary."
2
A small guesthouse or hotel, especially in Continental Europe, offering rooms and meals.
"They stayed in a cozy pension near the Paris train station."
verb
1
To pay someone a pension, or to force them into retirement with one.
"The airline pensioned off several senior pilots during the restructuring."
How to Use Pension
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishMoney paid regularly to a retired worker, or (in Europe) a small guesthouse.
UK vs US
The "guesthouse" sense is common in French/German/Italian tourism but rarely used this way in American English.
Common pairings
draw a pension
pension scheme
company pension
Word Forms
pensioned past tense, pensions plural, pensions plural, pensions singular
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She retired at 65 and now lives on her _____.
Etymology
From Latin pēnsiō ("payment, rent"), from pendō ("to weigh, pay").