MEANING
To provide money to meet an expense.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- defray expenses
- defray the cost
On the page
The grant defrayed the cost of the expedition's final week.
He sold the watch to defray her passage home.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- defray
- Past tense
- defrayed
- Past participle
- defrayed
- Present participle
- defraying
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- defray
- Present continuous
- am/is/are defraying
- Present perfect
- have/has defrayed
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been defraying
- Past
- defrayed
- Past continuous
- was/were defraying
- Past perfect
- had defrayed
- Past perfect continuous
- had been defraying
- Future
- will defray
- Future continuous
- will be defraying
- Future perfect
- will have defrayed
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been defraying
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: defray; defrays; defrayed; defrayed; defraying Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: defrays.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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