plural salaries
: fixed compensation paid regularly for services
Synonyms
Examples of salary in a Sentence
She was offered a salary of $50,000 a year.
Employees receive an annual increase in salary.
Recent Examples on the Web
Lawyers at the top of their game are netting eight-figure salaries as law firms take on bigger revenue-generating clients.
—
Beth Greenfield, Fortune, 2 July 2024
Because the salary slots of first-round picks are pre-assigned, the Heat were allowed at the start of the league’s 2024-25 salary-cap calendar to reach the agreement with Ware, the center taken out of Indiana at No. 15.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 2 July 2024
Deferring salary is generally not a sound financial strategy for a player because of inflation, according to the Major League Baseball Players Assn.
—Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2024
Move over Bobby Bonilla—there is a new leader in the clubhouse for the most famous salary deferral in baseball history.
—Kurt Badenhausen, Sportico.com, 1 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for salary 
Beth Greenfield, Fortune, 2 July 2024
Because the salary slots of first-round picks are pre-assigned, the Heat were allowed at the start of the league’s 2024-25 salary-cap calendar to reach the agreement with Ware, the center taken out of Indiana at No. 15.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 2 July 2024
Deferring salary is generally not a sound financial strategy for a player because of inflation, according to the Major League Baseball Players Assn.
—Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2024
Move over Bobby Bonilla—there is a new leader in the clubhouse for the most famous salary deferral in baseball history.
—Kurt Badenhausen, Sportico.com, 1 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for salary
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'salary.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Salary.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/salary. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
salary
noun
sal·a·ry
ˈsal-(ə-)rē 
plural salaries
: money paid at regular times for work or services : stipend
Etymology
Middle English salarie "money paid to a worker," from Latin salarium "salt money, pension, salary," derived from sal "salt"
Word Origin
The word salary is a loanword from Latin salarium, a derivative of sal, "salt," and perhaps originally short for salarium argentum, "salt money." According to a customary explanation, it was at one time money paid to Roman soldiers with which they were supposed to buy salt, but nothing in the known history of the word supports this. From the evidence of documents and inscriptions, the salarium was a fixed payment, introduced under the rule of Caesar Augustus, that was made to officials of a certain rank. The word was also applied to various other fees and payments to individuals by the Roman state or a community. Presumably salarium was a kind of euphemism, since the sums involved were much greater than would have been needed just to buy salt.
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