pay back — get revenge
phrasal verbB2IELTS 6+informaloccasional
to do something to someone because they did something bad to you first.
Say it like a native
Textbook I shall exact retribution for what he did.
Native I'll pay him back for that.
'Pay back' is the casual way to talk about revenge; 'exact retribution' is melodramatic.
Pattern: pay (someone) back (for something)
In use
- She played a prank on me, so I paid her back by hiding her phone.relationships
- Sometimes, people feel the need to pay someone back if they’ve been treated unfairly, but I think it’s better to just move on.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ I'll pay back him for that.
✓ I'll pay him back for that.
With a pronoun, the object goes in the middle: 'pay him back'.
Common collocations
pay + someone + back— him back, you back, back for, in kind
Don't confuse it
Not about money—this is about getting even with someone.
Related
- pay back (return money) — Another meaning of 'pay back' is 'return money'; compare the examples to keep the meanings separate.