pension

Everyday

1. A pension is money paid regularly to someone who has retired, from the government or a former employer. tree →
2. A pension can be money paid to someone who is ill, disabled or widowed. tree →
3. (in Europe) A pension (said «pon-see-on») can be a small family hotel. tree →
4. (verb) To pension someone off is to make them retire. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life older people live on their pension after retirement; a pensioner gets one. In maths money problems a pension is paid each week or month, so yearly pension = monthly × 12. Phrases: state pension, pension scheme, draw a pension.

Examples

• Grandpa gets his pension every month. tree →
• She saved into a pension while she worked. tree →
• The state pension helps older people. tree →
• If the pension is $1,000 a month, it is $12,000 a year. tree →
• My nan collects her pension at the post office. tree →
• (UK, informal) The old horse was pensioned off to a farm. tree →
• It was a most respectable old lamp, which had seen many, many years of service, and now was to retire with a pension. tree →

Note

Countable. A person who gets one is a pensioner; an «old-age pensioner» (OAP) in the UK. Do not confuse with «tension» or «pensive».