Bonus Meaning
/ˈbəʊ.nəs/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounSomething extra that is good; an added benefit.
nounAn extra sum given as a premium, e.g. to an employee or to a shareholder.
Sentence Examples
My bonus doesn't come close to covering all the loan payments I have to make.
I blew my whole bonus on shopping and travel.
Staff got excited when they heard they were getting a bonus.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
Every employee received a $500 holiday ____ for meeting their sales targets.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He received a large Christmas ____ for his hard work this year city.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂-der.? Proto-Italic *dwenos Old Latin duenos Old Latin duonus Latin bonusbor. English bonus Borrowed from Latin bonus (“good”). Doublet of bona.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I was a bank manager in the 1970s, but I never received or expected to receive a bonus for doing my paid work."
— 2009 February 14, “Letters: Time to sack the bonus culture”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 26 Dec 2024:
"Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.[…]Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today."
— 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, archived from the original on 19 Apr 2020, page 70:
"In its adherence to a system of rating which bonusses the most anti-social owners and penalises those doing something to improve the district, the municipality must accept a large measure of responsibility."
— 1949, Land Values Research Group, Reclamation of an Industrial Suburb:
"The main bulk of the piece-workers (71%) are bonussed for fulfillment of the production quotas by the section, shop or plant on condition they fulfill the norms."
— 1964, Translations on USSR Labor, United States Joint Publications Research Service, page 22:
"Extracting grants called bonusses from municipal councils had become a fine art in the hands of railway promoters, and by the 1870s councils were aware that huge municipal debts could be mounted up by bonussing railway lines that as often as not never materialized."
— 1991, Bruce S. Elliott, The City Beyond: A History of Nepean, Birthplace of Canada’s Capital, 1792-1990, Corporation of the City of Nepean, →ISBN, page 130:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Every employee received a $500 holiday ____ for meeting their sales targets.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He received a large Christmas ____ for his hard work this year city.