Severance is the money paid to somebody whose job is ending. A severance package, severance pay, negotiate severance.
It is paid on redundancy or on terms agreed at the end of a contract, and it usually comes with an agreement not to sue. In Britain statutory redundancy pay is a legal minimum and severance is anything above it. The word also means the act of cutting off: the severance of relations. Note sever; and that severance and separation are the same Latin word at a distance.
1nounseveranceMoney paid to somebody whose job is ending.
“When the factory closed, each worker received a year's salary as severance.”
2nounactThe act of cutting off a connection.
“The severance of diplomatic ties meant the embassy had to close.”
severance is a payment or a cutting off.
Old French sevrance comes from sevrer, to separate, from Latin separare. Sever and separate are the same word by two roads, and severance follows the older one.
Old French
sevrance
Middle English
severaunce
English, today
severance
From sever + -ance, from Middle English severaunce, from Anglo-Norman -, Old French sevrance, from sevrer.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA