earnings
Americannoun
plural noun
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money or other payment earned
-
the profits of an enterprise
Etymology
Origin of earnings
before 1050; Middle English erning, Old English earning, earnung merit, pay. See earn 1, -ing 1, -s 3
Explanation
Earnings are the amount of money you make from doing a job. You'll be a lot more excited about babysitting when you learn your earnings will be more than generous. Most earnings come from work that you've done, although money you earn from an investment can also be called earnings. Any financial profit or gain you make go into the earnings category, since you earn that money, whether through work, luck, or intelligence. The Proto-Germanic root, *aznon, means "do harvest work."
Vocabulary lists containing earnings
One Idea, Part 1
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Century 21 Accounting, 9e, Chapters 11-14
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Earnings beats mean a lot more when it happens to stocks the market gave up on.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 3, 2026
Earnings are the principal driver behind the breathtaking rallies achieved by Korean and Taiwanese benchmark indices in 2026, and Goldman Sachs thinks the market is still underestimating the longevity of the chip cycle.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 3, 2026
Earnings season provides a reminder of the strength of corporate America but uncertainty could flood back in their absence.
From Barron's • May 20, 2026
Some of today's pensioners still receive money from the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme, a very generous programme that accepted new entrants from 1978 until 2002.
From BBC • May 17, 2026
Next to it was a fat envelope labeled "Lemonade Earnings."
From "The Lemonade War" by Jacqueline Davies
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
