Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To undertake the payment of (costs or expenses); pay.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To make compensation to or for; pay for the services or discharge the cost of; pay or pay for.
- To satisfy; appease.
- To meet or satisfy by payment, or by an equivalent; liquidate; settle; discharge: as, to defray the cost of a voyage, or of a lawsuit; to defray a tavern-bill; the profits will not defray the charges or expenses.
- n. Wrong-doing.
Wiktionary
- v. obsolete To spend (money).
- v. To pay or discharge (a debt, expense etc.); to meet (the cost of something).
- v. To pay for (something).
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To pay or discharge; to serve in payment of; to provide for, as a charge, debt, expenses, costs, etc.
- v. obsolete To avert or appease, as by paying off; to satisfy.
WordNet 3.0
- v. bear the expenses of
Etymologies
- From Middle French desfrayer, French défrayer, from dé- + Old French fraier ("to spend"). (Wiktionary)
- French défrayer, from Old French desfrayer : des-, de- + *frai, expense (from Latin frāctum, from neuter past participle of frangere, to break; see bhreg- in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Is there anything people can do to kind of defray those costs?”
“The suit said insurers have been subje ct to "assessments to defray operating expenses" of the insurance department since 1940, under state law.”
The Wall Street Journal: Insurers Group Challenges 'Improper' Assessments
“Often, buyers of these natural-gas trucks have received government subsidies that have helped defray the higher purchase price.”
“UPS bought its natural-gas trucks only after getting $4 million in federal stimulus money to help defray the cost, Mr. Britt said.”
“But lobbyists and desperate legislators alike have modified the TIF concept over the years, so some TIFs benefit the builder, not the infrastructure generally, and serve as a subsidy for infill developers to defray their own costs of construction by deferring tax payable from assessment growth rather than redirecting it.”
“It results in us collecting the most money possible from other countries to help defray the fixed costs of drug development.”
“Here is a free emissions permit which you can now use to defray the costs of your pollution by either keeping or selling at a premium to a less politically connected power company.”
Cap and Trade= Carbon Tax + Corporate Welfare part 1 million and five
“Sometimes they will ask for a little money to help them defray the costs involved with conducting the ceremony, fires need fuel and stuff like that.”
“But the budget blueprint proposes some cuts, including a $194 million decrease in federal payments to local and state governments to help defray the costs of detaining illegal immigrants with criminal records.”
The Washington Post: Federal Budget 2012: Agency-by-agency analysis
“Many of the available tax deductions may help defray some of those costs, says Graham Weihmiller , president of Griswold Special Care, an Erdenheim, Pa., provider of at-home care.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘defray’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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EN - archaic words
abide, abjure, abroad, adamant, afield, aforetime, aghast, anon, apace, argent, assuage, aught and 328 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1901 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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My Revised GRE Preparation List
Words from the new GRE : This list consists mostly of words from the book Magoosh-GRE-vocab-ebook, which is one of the best vocab materials available, especially if you have started preparing one ...
alacrity, prosaic, veracity, paucity, contrite, trite, maintain, laconic, pugnacious, disparate, egregious, innocuous and 533 more...
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Professional Scrabble Lexicon (TWL)
A myriad of game-changing words every Scrabble addict must have in his arsenal.
Keep in mind that these are all tried-and-true feasibly playable words selected for their handiness, i.e...paragon, pignora, ganef, suttee, origan, ohia, aioli, abasement, lehr, mho, tallow, harelike and 843 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, D
dodecahedron, din, diglyceride, dysphotopsia, decoction, deboss, diatonic, dithyramb, divagate, discalced, dishdasha, daft and 281 more...
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Verbal Advantage List
ostensible, paraphrase, digress, uncanny, candor, morose, adept, saturated, pragmatic, congenial, capricious, blatant and 487 more...
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Vocabulary
paradox, aberration, laconic, lugubrious, credulous, loquacious, deprecate, pointillistic, epigone, vehement, surly, obtuse and 359 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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new acquisitions
found in the wild (i.e., not on Wordie!)
samara, indehiscent, paschal, rogation, wen, rete, diriment, epicene, duramen, euhemerism, objurgate, canaille and 429 more...
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GRE uncommon
patronage, expletive, exhort, exegesis, execrable, excommunicate, evince, escarpment, ersatz, ergo, epoxy, snare and 1202 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for defray.
karthik.sukumar.399 Do companies defray for PhD studies?
Sep 24, 2012