Definition

Verb (transitive): 1. To grant a pension to someone, typically upon their retirement: To provide a regular payment to an employee who has stopped working due to age or length of service. 2. To dismiss or retire someone from employment, often with a pension as an incentive: To let an employee go, especially an older one, offering a pension to facilitate their departure.

Usage and Examples

• The company decided to pension off several long-serving employees with a generous package.
• After forty years of service, he was pensioned off.
• The new management pensioned off the older staff to make way for younger recruits.

Advanced Usage

• The phrasal verb can carry a nuance of being removed from a position, sometimes not entirely voluntarily, but with financial compensation to make the dismissal more acceptable or to avoid controversy.
  • The aging CEO was quietly pensioned off by the board.

Variants and Related Words

• Pension (n): A regular payment made during a person's retirement.
• Pension (v): To pay a pension to (someone). (Less common than the phrasal verb).
• Pensioner (n): A person who receives a pension.

Synonyms

• Retire (someone)
• Superannuate (formal)

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Pay off: To dismiss with a final payment. (Can be broader, not specifically linked to retirement pensions).
  • They paid him off to leave the company quietly.

Verb

1. grant a pension to
2. let go from employment with an attractive pension
   • The director was pensioned off when he got senile