Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

pay-to-play en · ADJ

Pronunciation

Etymology

See pay to play.

Meanings

  1. (not-comparable, of a politician, qualifier:political party; etc; political party; etc) Accepting donations or favors in exchange for favors; corrupt.
    • Davis's pay-to-play reputation, demanding donations before he would consider policies or appointments favorable to the potential donors, was used against him. 2004, Larry N. Gerston, Terry Christensen, Recall!: California's Political Earthquake:
    • Near-synonym: quid pro quo (attributively)
  2. (not-comparable, of an online game) Requiring payment from the player.
    • Near-synonyms: paywalled, subscription (attributively)
    • As the lawsuit claims, we’re being programmed to constantly seek a dopamine hit from each swipe in what it calls a “pay-to-play” loop. 2024 March 14, Georgina Lawton, “I’m not surprised people are suing a dating app company – our addiction to swiping makes us miserable”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
pay to play alternative lexicographic

Antonyms

free-to-play · free

Relateds

backscratcher · green handshake · you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours · scratch someone's back · backscratching

Synonyms

quid pro quo[Appendix:Glossary · paywalled · subscription