Meanings
present singular third person short-pays · participle present short-paid · participle past short-payed · past short-payed · alternative shortpay · alternative short pay
- accountingTo pay (someone) less than the amount that is owed; to underpay through error, omission, or miscalculation.
A short payment occurs when a customer underpays their invoice... At times, a customer may short pay an invoice as part of a cash flow management strategy, choosing to pay less than the full amount to minimize their outflow of money.
2023 December 15, Shaun Jex, “How to Handle Short Payments”, in QuadientSynonyms: shortchange, underpay
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo pay (someone) less than the amount that is owed; to underpay through error, omission, or miscalculation.
Origin
From short + pay, parallel to compounds such as shortchange. Attested in financial and employment contexts since at least the early 20th century.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
short-pay. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/short-pay
“short-pay.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/short-pay. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “short-pay,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/short-pay.
Source: short-pay on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.