Tribute
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 An acknowledgment of gratitude, respect or admiration; an accompanying gift. countable, uncountable
"Please accept this as a tribute of our thanks."
- 2 payment extorted by gangsters on threat of violence wordnet
- 3 An acknowledgment of gratitude, respect or admiration; an accompanying gift.; An homage made in a body of work to another work or creator. countable, uncountable
"Did you catch the Up in Smoke tribute in that episode of That '70s Show?"
- 4 payment by one nation for protection by another wordnet
- 5 A payment made by one nation to another in submission. countable, uncountable
"The Ancient Romans made their conquered countries pay tribute."
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- 6 something given or done as an expression of esteem wordnet
- 7 Extortion; protection money. countable, uncountable
- 8 A payment made by a feudal vassal to his lord. countable, uncountable
- 9 A certain proportion of the mined ore, or of its value, given to the miner as payment. countable, uncountable
"The setting of a Copper Mine upon tribute , has this difference : the Tributor is at the sole expence of digging , raising , and dressing , all the Ore that can be made merchantable"
- 10 Ellipsis of cum tribute. Internet, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable, vulgar
- 1 To pay as tribute. transitive
"Amorous Trifler, that spendeth[…]his Afternoones in discourse with Paint, or Lust, tributing most precious Minutes, to the Scepter of a Fanne."
Example
More examples"The whole company stood in silence for a few moments, as a tribute to the dead."
Etymology
PIE word *tréyes From Middle English tribut (14th c.), from Middle French tribut, from Latin tributum (“tribute”, literally “a thing contributed or paid”), past participle of tribuere (“to assign, allot”), usually derived from tribus (“tribe”, which see).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.