tribute

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/ˈtrɪbjuːt/
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Acts and words of respect, signs that prove someone's value, older payments owed to stronger powers, plus rare verb use and vulgar online slang.
Practice using tribute in conversation until it feels natural

Examples

  • Moderators removed a vulgar tribute from the image thread.
  • The album works as a tribute to early soul music.
  • The villages tributed grain to the king each harvest.
  • The documentary is a warm tribute to immigrant workers.
  • Records list the tribute owed by each province.

Similar words

evidence
exaction
salute
indication
testimonial
tax
recognition
payment
contribute
give

Meanings

Act or gift of respect

noun
culture
neutral
Something said, made, performed, or given to show admiration, gratitude, love, or respect, especially in public or after someone has died.

Usage

Use tribute for a speech, song, ceremony, gift, or work that honors a person, group, event, or influence.

Examples

  • The choir sang a tribute to the late director.
  • Floral tributes lined the steps outside the theater.
  • The documentary is a warm tribute to immigrant workers.
  • Fans paid tribute to the captain before kickoff.
  • The album works as a tribute to early soul music.

Common mistakes

The preposition to is often missing after verbs such as pay or give.
IncorrectCorrect
The choir sang a tribute for the late director. The choir sang a tribute to the late director.
Fans paid tribute the team captain. Fans paid tribute to the team captain.
He tributed his mentor at the dinner. He paid tribute to his mentor at the dinner.
The article was a tribute of her courage. The article was a tribute to her courage.

Similar words

homage
salute
testimonial
commemoration
eulogy
accolade
recognition
appreciation

Evidence of worth

noun
evaluation
neutral
Something that clearly shows the value, skill, influence, or good effect of a person or thing.

Usage

Use tribute in the pattern be a tribute to when one result proves how good or effective something else is.

Examples

  • The restored station is a tribute to the architects' skill.
  • Her calm response was a tribute to years of training.
  • The team's discipline is a tribute to its coach.
  • The garden's health is a tribute to careful soil work.
  • The software's stability is a tribute to quiet maintenance.

Common mistakes

The phrase normally takes to, not for or of.
IncorrectCorrect
The bridge is a tribute for the engineers' skill. The bridge is a tribute to the engineers' skill.
Her recovery paid tribute to the nurses' care. Her recovery was a tribute to the nurses' care.
The clean design is tribute to careful planning. The clean design is a tribute to careful planning.
The result was a tribute of his patience. The result was a tribute to his patience.

Similar words

evidence
testimony
proof
sign
indication
reflection
testament

Payment owed to a stronger power

noun
history
neutral
Money, goods, labor, or another valuable payment given to a ruler, state, lord, or powerful group as submission, protection, rent, or coercion.

Usage

Use tribute for a payment owed upward to a stronger authority, especially in historical writing about empires, vassals, or protection.

Examples

  • The empire collected tribute from border kingdoms.
  • The treaty required annual tribute in silver.
  • Vassals sent horses and grain as tribute to the lord.
  • The city paid tribute to avoid another siege.
  • Records list the tribute owed by each province.

Common mistakes

The payment is often wrongly described as a free gift or sent in the wrong direction.
IncorrectCorrect
The conquered city collected tribute from the empire. The conquered city paid tribute to the empire.
Tribute was always a voluntary gift. Tribute was often an imposed payment.
The emperor paid tribute to his own provinces. The emperor collected tribute from his provinces.
The tax was a tribute to admiration. The tax was tribute owed to a ruler.

Similar words

levy
tax
toll
impost
payment
rent
exaction

Pay or give as tribute

verb
history
archaic
To hand over money, goods, time, or service as tribute, a rare use now mostly found in older or deliberately archaic writing.

Usage

Use tribute as a verb only when the old sense of paying or yielding something as tribute is intended, and prefer pay tribute to in ordinary modern English.

Examples

  • The villages tributed grain to the king each harvest.
  • Chroniclers said the islanders tributed silver to the fleet.
  • A vassal might tribute horses instead of coin.
  • The province was forced to tribute a share of its crop.
  • Few modern writers tribute anything without sounding archaic.

Common mistakes

Tribute as a verb is rare, so modern honor uses usually need pay tribute to instead.
IncorrectCorrect
The mayor tributed the volunteers in a speech. The mayor paid tribute to the volunteers in a speech.
She tributed her success to luck. She attributed her success to luck.
The villages tribute grain last year. The villages tributed grain last year.
The province was tributed by the king. The province tributed goods to the king.

Similar words

pay
render
yield
give
contribute
offer

Vulgar sexual image or act

noun
internet
slang
In adult internet slang, a shortening of cum tribute for an image or act involving ejaculation onto or over someone's picture, often discussed as harassment when non-consensual.

Usage

Use tribute in this sense only for the vulgar adult slang shortening of cum tribute, and keep consent and context clear.

Examples

  • The report described non-consensual tributes as online sexual harassment.
  • Moderators removed a vulgar tribute from the image thread.
  • The forum rules banned requests for cum tributes.
  • Outside adult slang, tribute usually means respect or praise.
  • She blocked users who asked for tributes on her photos.

Common mistakes

The slang sense is sometimes read into ordinary respectful uses where no sexual meaning is present.
IncorrectCorrect
The school held a tribute for veterans, so it used sexual slang. The school held a tribute for veterans, so it used the respect sense.
Every online tribute is vulgar slang. Only adult contexts make tribute vulgar slang.
A cum tribute is a polite memorial speech. A cum tribute is vulgar adult slang.
Consent is irrelevant to a non-consensual tribute. Consent is central when this slang is discussed.

Similar words

cum tribute
sexual tribute

Usage

Use tribute most often for honoring someone or for something that proves worth, and reserve the payment, verb, and slang senses for contexts that clearly point there.

Common mistakes

Pay tribute to is the usual modern wording, while bare tribute someone sounds wrong unless an archaic payment sense is intended.

Etymology

From Middle English tribut, from Old French tribut and Latin tributum, a payment or thing contributed, from tribuere, meaning to assign, allot, grant, or pay.

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