pay the price

verb

To incur the negative consequences of (one’s own or someone else’s) actions or decisions.

Similar
face the musicpay the piper
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Meanings

verbpay the price (third-person singular simple present pays the price, present participle paying the price, simple past and past participle paid the price)

present singular third person pays the price · participle present paying the price · participle past paid the price · past paid the price · alternative pay the penalty

  1. idiomaticTo incur the negative consequences of (one’s own or someone else’s) actions or decisions.

    Yet United may have paid the price for overconfidence as they completely lost their concentration after 10 minutes to let Wolves back in.

    2011 February 5, Chris Whyatt, “Wolverhampton 2 - 1 Man Utd”, in BBC
    2 more examples

    Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said ahead of the vote: "Northern communities are, once again, paying the price for broken Tory promises on rail.

    2021 December 29, “Labour demands NPR action after "rail betrayal"”, in RAIL, number 947, page 7

    "China will pay a price if it is seen as assisting Russia — either providing a direct assistance, particularly military assistance, or assisting Russia in evading sanctions," Chollet told VOA.

    [2022 April 29, Nike Ching, “US: No Sign Russia-Ukraine Negotiations Will Bear Fruit”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 29 Apr 2022, Ukraine

    Synonyms: face the music, pay the piper

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo incur the negative consequences of (one’s own or someone else’s) actions or decisions.

Similar
face the musicpay the piper
Also see
abide byacquiesceante upface the musicpaypay the penaltypay the piperpony up

Translations

German ausbaden
  • ausbadento incur the negative consequences of one's decision
Italian pagare lo scotto
  • pagare lo scottoto incur the negative consequences of one's decision
Polish płacić za, zapłacić za
  • płacić zato incur the negative consequences of one's decision
  • zapłacić zato incur the negative consequences of one's decision
Spanish pagarlo caro, pagar las consecuencias
  • pagarlo caroto incur the negative consequences of one's decision
  • pagar las consecuenciasto incur the negative consequences of one's decision
Cite this entry
APA

pay the price. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pay%20the%20price

MLA

“pay the price.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pay%20the%20price. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pay the price,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pay%20the%20price.

Source: pay the price on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.