Commissions

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /kəˈmɪʃənz/

Definitions

1. A group of individuals entrusted to oversee or manage specific tasks or functions
2. The act of formally granting authority, often for a particular purpose within an organization
3. Financial payments made to individuals based on sales or performance metrics for their services in a commercial context

Etymology: "Commissions" is the plural of "commission," so it gets a short note on its base word. That base word comes into English from Old French "commission," which in turn descends from Latin "commissiō," meaning a sending together or an entrusting of a task. Latin built it from "committō," combining "com-" ("with") and "mittō" ("to send"), with a suffix that turns an action into a noun. The core idea is therefore a thing sent or put together for a purpose, which is why the word came to mean an authority or task handed to someone. Its financial sense, a fee paid to an agent for carrying out business, grew out of that notion of a charge entrusted to a representative. The plural form refers to those payments collectively or repeatedly.

Synonyms: fees, charges, payments, remunerations, wages

Antonyms: discounts, rebates