transfer payment

noun

: a public expenditure made for a purpose (such as unemployment compensation) other than procuring goods or services

—usually used in plural

transfer payments plural : money (such as welfare payments) that is received by individuals and that is neither compensation for goods or services currently supplied nor income from investments

Examples of transfer payment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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Oakland and Washtenaw county residents both had the smallest share of income from transfer payments at 12%, with Macomb County at 20% and Wayne at 28%. —

Joe Guillen, Axios, 4 Dec. 2024 Government spending is totally out of control, and the number of people who are partially or wholly dependent on government transfer payments has mushroomed. —

Dave Birnbaum, Forbes, 21 Nov. 2024 Zoom in: There are multiple types of counties with high rates of transfer payments. —

Neil Irwin, Axios, 20 Nov. 2024 Chechen authorities receive roughly 85 percent of their state budget in the form of federal transfer payments from Moscow. —

Neil Hauer, Foreign Affairs, 4 Feb. 2019 See all Example Sentences for transfer payment

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1945, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of transfer payment was circa 1945

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Transfer payment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transfer%20payment. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.

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