idiom · neutral
pay dividends
/peɪ dɪˈvɪdɛndz/pay·di·VID·ends
To yield benefits or positive results, especially after some time.
Examples
“Investing in staff training eventually paid dividends with higher productivity.”
“Her patience paid dividends when the project succeeded.”
“Good study habits often pay dividends in exam results.”
Band 8 sentence
“Although the initiative was costly at first, it paid dividends over time in terms of staff retention and customer satisfaction.”
Collocations
- pay big dividends
- eventually pay dividends
Word family
Common mistakes
The reforms pay dividends.→The reforms pay dividends.
The project have paid dividends→The project has paid dividends
Say it for a higher band
5bring benefits→6be beneficial→7+pay dividends
Synonyms
bring benefits
Easily confused
pay off
“All that hard work finally paid off when she passed the exam.”
Related words
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In Money
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