Phrase guide

lubrication payment

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A bribe or extorted money, usually relatively small in amount, provided to a low-level government official or business person, in order to expedite a business decision, shipment, or other transaction, especially in a country where such payments are not unusual.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: euphemistic, idiomatic

Topics: business, ethics, human-sciences, philosophy, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: grease payment, grease money, palm oil, baksheesh

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

By a metaphor in which facilitating human socioeconomic interaction is portrayed as lubricating machinery (e.g., oiling the gears, greasing the wheels); in this regard, compare also social lubricant.

Across languages

Translations

5 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: voiteluraha — euphemism for a bribe
  • German: Schmiergeld — euphemism for a bribe
  • Hungarian: kenőpénz — euphemism for a bribe
  • Polish: łapówka — euphemism for a bribe
  • Ottoman Turkish: بخشش (bahşiş) — euphemism for a bribe