reward
UK/ɹɪˈwɔːd//ɹɪˈwɔɹd/
reward noun: something of value given in return for an act.
Noun
reward (plural rewards)
- Something of value given in return for an act.
- For catching the thief, you'll get a nice reward.
- Synonyms:
- payment, recompense, tithing, meed
- Antonyms:
- penalty, punishment
- A prize promised for a certain deed or catch
- The rewards for bringing in badly wanted criminals are printed on 'dead or alive' posters.
- Synonyms:
- bounty
- one's place in heaven; God's judgment in the afterlife; death
- And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with mee, to giue euery man according as his worke shall be.[1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 22:12
- Your daddy ever tell you how Uncle Mac come to his reward?2007, No Country for Old Men by Joel and Ethen Coen
- The result of an action, whether good or bad.
- Is this the reward I get for telling the truth: to be put in jail?
- Christian Benteke's first-half goal was just reward for Villa's undoubted superiority but Bradford managed to survive without further damage until half-time, before scoring the goal that takes them to Wembley for the first time since 1996.2013 January 22, Phil McNulty, “Aston Villa 2-1 Bradford (3-4)”, in BBC
- Synonyms:
- consequence
Verb
reward (third-person singular simple present rewards, present participle rewarding, simple past and past participle rewarded)
- To give a reward to or for.
- Why are you rewarding the child for misbehaving?
- Why are you rewarding that bad behaviour?
- To be a recompense for.
- Decorations are meant to reward the most meritous acts and services.
- The Italian opted for Bolton's Cahill alongside captain John Terry - and his decision was rewarded with a goal after only 13 minutes. Bulgaria gave a hint of defensive frailties to come when they failed to clear Young's corner, and when Gareth Barry found Cahill in the box he applied the finish...2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC
- To give (something) as a reward.
- Thenne syr Marhaus departed and within two dayes his damoysel brought hym where as was a grete tornement that the lady de Vawse has cryed
[…]
And there syr Marhaus dyd so nobly that he was renomed
& had somtyme doune fourty knyghtes
and soo the serklet of gold was rewarded hym1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xxvj”, in Le Morte Darthur, book IV - Thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 24:17
- Thenne syr Marhaus departed and within two dayes his damoysel brought hym where as was a grete tornement that the lady de Vawse has cryed
reward meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
reward in Hindi
- something of value given in return for an act
- इनाम inām, पुरस्कार puraskār
- prize promised for a certain deed or catch
- पुरस्कार puraskār
reward in Tamil
- வெகுமதி, பரிசு
reward in Marathi
- बक्षीस देणारी
reward in Urdu
- something of value given in return for an act
- اِنْعام in'ām, صِلَہ sila, جائِزَہ jāiza
More languagesFewer languages
- reward in Bengali
- পুরষ্কার purośkar, জাযা jaja, এনাম enam
- reward in Telugu
- ఫలము phalamu
- reward in Malayalam
- പ്രതിഫലം pratiphalaṁ
- reward in Kannada
- ಪ್ರತಿಫಲ, ಪುರಸ್ಕಾರ, ಸಂಭಾವನೆ, ಮೆಚ್ಚು
- reward in Gujarati
- પારિતોષિક
- reward in Odia
- ପୁରସ୍କାର puraskāra
- reward in Sanskrit
- मीढ mīḍha
- reward in Nepali
- इनाम inām, फल phal
- reward in Pashto
- انعام en'ām
- reward in Tagalog
- gantimpala
- reward in Arabic
- مُكَافَأَة mukāfaʔa, ثَوَاب ṯawāb, جَائِزَة jāʔiza, إِنْعَام ʔinʕām
- reward in Malay
- ganjar, pahala, ganjaran
- reward in Indonesian
- imbalan, hadiah, ganjaran, menghadiahkan
- reward in Thai
- รางวัล raang-wan, ตอบแทน dtɔ̀ɔp-tɛɛn, ตกรางวัล
- reward in Vietnamese
- tặng thưởng, thưởng
- reward in Myanmar
- ဆု hcu.
- Kashmiri
- ڈٲلؠ ḍạ̄l', یَنام yanām
Examples of reward in a sentence
- The mayor rewarded his cronies with cushy plums, requiring little work for handsome pay.
- I kept saccing monsters at the altar until I was rewarded with a new weapon.
- Good conduct will be rewarded and likewise poor conduct will be punished.
Synonyms of reward
1 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of reward
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | rewards |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | rewards |
| present participle | rewarding |
| past participle | rewarded |
| past | rewarded |
Origin of reward
From Middle English reward, rewarde, from Old French reward (“reward”) (compare Old French regard, whence modern French regard, and also English regard through Middle French), from rewarder (“to reward”) (compare Old French reguarder), from re- + warder (“to guard, keep”) (compare Old French guarder); the Anglo-Norman forms are derived from Old Northern French variants of Old French, ultimately of Germanic (Frankish) origin. Compare regard, warden, guard. See more below. Mostly displaced Old English mēd, whence Modern English meed. Displaced Old English lēan and edlēan.
From Middle English rewarden, from Anglo-Norman rewarder (“to reward”), from re- + warder (“to guard, keep”), from Old Northern French [Term?], from Frankish *wardōn (“to guard, keep”), from Proto-Germanic *wardōną (“to guard, defend”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to cover, shelter, defend, guard, shut”). Cognate with Old Saxon wardōn (“to guard, provide for, protect”), Old English weardian (“to guard”), Old High German wartēn (“to watch, keep, look after”). More at ward. Piecewise doublet of regard. Displaced Old English lēanian. In this sense, displaced Old English ġieldan, whence Modern English yield.
Words formed from reward
- after-reward
- a good deed is its own reward
- antireward
- extrinsic reward
- intrinsic reward
- just reward
- reward card
- rewardful
- reward hacking
- rewardless
- reward system
- superreward
- virtue is its own reward
- misreward
- nonrewarded
- overreward
- overrewarded
- rewardability
- rewardable
- rewardedly
- rewardedness
- rewardee
- rewarder
- rewarding
- superrewarded
- unrewarded
Phrases with reward
Words that rhyme with reward
40 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- umbilical cord
- afford
- ord
- sward
- toward
- hoard
- untoward
- -lord
- abhorred
- bored
- destination board
- disaccord
- greatsword
- horde
- onboard
- smorgasbord
- unoared
- adored
- bell chord
- beward
- chored
- concord
- deboard
- discord
- fjord
- gord
- gored
- guide board
- hoared
- ignored
- m'lord
- milord
- moored
- oared
- of one's own accord
- outward
- restored
- secured
- sord
- whored
Questions about reward
- What does reward mean?
- Reward means something of value given in return for an act.
- What is reward in Hindi?
- Reward in Hindi is इनाम (inām), पुरस्कार (puraskār). See Reward meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is reward?
- Reward can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce reward?
- Reward is pronounced /ɹɪˈwɔːd/ (UK).
- What is the plural of reward?
- The plural of reward is rewards.
Words near reward in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: reward (page history and authors); reward (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); reward (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ఫలము (Telugu) (page history and authors); reward (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); reward (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ପୁରସ୍କାର (Odia) (page history and authors); इनाम (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-reward.ogg.
Cite this entry: “reward.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/reward. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.