noun
salary
SA-luh-ree
noun
1
A fixed regular payment, usually calculated yearly or monthly rather than by the hour, paid to an employee.
"Her new job comes with a salary of $60,000 a year."
"He negotiated a higher salary before accepting the offer."
How to Use Salary
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishRegular fixed pay for a job, as opposed to being paid by the hour.
Common mistake
Salary is fixed pay (monthly/yearly); wages usually refer to hourly pay that varies with hours worked.
Easily confused with
Common pairings
annual salary
salary increase
starting salary
salary negotiation
Word Forms
more salary comparative, salaried past tense, salaries plural, salaries singular, most salary superlative
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Her new job comes with a _____ of $60,000 a year.
Etymology
From Latin salarium, "wages," from salarius, "related to salt" — possibly because it originally covered money for buying salt, though the exact history is debated.