"The ultimate payoff will be when a large pharmaceutical company realizes it needs a position in genetic therapy," he said.

You're just supposed to sit through endless hours of repetitive dialogue with no ultimate payoff.

Even offshore, in what had been unregulated ocean where salvagers go in search of the ultimate payoff, there is no peace.

The ultimate payoff for these incentives is also in question.

But skeptics say the ultimate payoff, no matter which method achieves ignition first, will be far less than advertised.

The ultimate payoff, of course, is to become a partner and earn the right to take a share of the firm's profits.

The ultimate payoff from the car might not come until the first major crash.

But until recently, one immutable economic fact held G.M. back: The upfront costs were simply too high to justify the ultimate payoff.

The ultimate payoff is expressing the creativity inherent in preservation.

The ultimate payoff was the same, but the monkeys preferred the riskier choice.