revenue

American  

[rev-uhn-yoo, -uh-noo] / ˈrɛv ənˌyu, -əˌnu /

noun

1. the income of a government from taxation, excise duties, customs, or other sources, appropriated to the payment of the public expenses.

2. the government department charged with the collection of such income.

3. revenues, the collective items or amounts of income of a person, a state, etc.

4. the return or yield from any kind of property, patent, service, etc.; income.

5. an amount of money regularly coming in.

6. a particular item or source of income.

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revenue British  

/ ˈrɛvɪˌnjuː /

noun

1. the income accruing from taxation to a government during a specified period of time, usually a year

2. 1. a government department responsible for the collection of government revenue

   2. ( as modifier )

      revenue men

3. the gross income from a business enterprise, investment, property, etc

4. a particular item of income

5. something that yields a regular financial return; source of income

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revenue Cultural  

1. The income of local, state, or national governments.

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Other Word Forms

• nonrevenue
  adjective
• revenual
  adjective
• revenued
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of revenue

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Middle French, noun use of feminine past participle of revenir “to return,” from Latin revenīre, equivalent to re- re- + venīre “to come ”

Explanation

Revenue is money earned by a business, or income received by the government from taxes. The government is always interested in dreaming up new sources of revenue, and so is the average head of a company unless she doesn't want to be the head anymore. Revenue is from a French word meaning "to return or come back," and dollar returns are always a welcome thing. Declining advertising revenue will doom your website, no matter how great it is. If your lemonade stand is not making a profit, you might consider lowering costs. Maybe you could get cheaper lemonade mix? Or you might look for more creative and exciting ways to increase revenue––like raiding the pantry for cookies you can sell as well.

Example Sentences

And it cleans up in the third, loyalty revenue, including from credit cards, retail partners, and lounge memberships.

From Barron's • May 8, 2026

For the year that began in April, it projected revenue to rise 0.6% to ¥51.00 trillion and net profit to drop 22% to ¥3.000 trillion.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026

JP Morgan's trading arm made a record $11.6bn of revenue in the first three months of 2026, helping the bank overall to its second biggest ever quarterly profit.

From BBC • May 8, 2026

The company’s revenue jumped 34% year-over-year to $639.8 million in the first quarter.

From Los Angeles Times • May 7, 2026

On June 2nd he was escorted to the Long Wharf in Boston and put aboard a revenue cutter and sent back to Virginia.

From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry

Related Words

• credit
• dividend
• earnings
• fund
• gain
• interest
• pay
• proceeds
• receipt
• return
• salary
• stock
• wealth
• yield