pay dividends

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

pay dividends (third-person singular simple present pays dividends, present participle paying dividends, simple past and past participle paid dividends)

1. (idiomatic) To bring about something good as a result of past effort or actions.
   • 2016 October 22, Rami G Khouri, “Lebanese oligarchy preserves its interests once again”, in Aljazeera‎^[1]:

     Aoun's alliance with Hezbollah appears finally to have paid dividends in moving him into the presidential palace, which the 128-member parliament must formally vote on, probably next week.

   • 2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 16:52 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?‎^[2], archived from the original on 3 November 2022:

     Concentrating fire on the heavy cruiser Kumano, Johnston, somehow still alive, is rewarded by seeing explosions and flames amidst the superstructure of the Japanese cruiser. The destroyer's radar and Mark 37 fire-control system are paying dividends early.

   • 2021 October 6, Greg Morse, “A need for speed and the drive for 125”, in RAIL, number 941, page 51:

     The trains were soon paying dividends - by December, BR was reporting a 15% rise in passenger receipts.

Translations

Translations

• Finnish: tuottaa tulosta
• German: sich auszahlen, sich bezahlt machen
• Romanian: da roade, merita (ro)
• Spanish: aprodar (es), redituar (es), fructificar (es), usufructuar (es)

Further reading

• “pay dividends”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.