revenue

American  

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

noun

• revenues
  plural

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

Derived Forms

• nonrevenue
  adjective
• revenual
  adjective
• revenued
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• revenues
  plural

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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 ”

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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

See Examples For:

revenue revenues

If passed, the state would issue revenue bonds, selling them to investors and using that money to issue loans to homebuyers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2026

Revenue bonds are generally viewed as riskier than other types of government bonds, in part because they’re backed by the promise of revenue from a specific project — in this case, payment by individual borrowers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2026

But for hit shows with deep libraries, bidding wars could erupt that pushed revenue for the 5-year rights to a show, called a syndication cycle, into the hundreds of millions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

Meta’s stock declined as concerns over heavy spending on AI overshadowed the 26% increase in third-quarter revenue the company reported on Wednesday.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2026

As it turned out, the film was a box office dud, bringing in only $40,000; it did make additional revenue from DVD sales and television licensing.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

The ONS said that government spending exceeded its revenues by 24.5 billion pounds in September, an increase in the budget deficit of 1.8 billion pounds from the same month in 2025.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

As part of its Jackdaw announcement, external, the government said it was setting up a new energy wealth fund, using tax revenues from North Sea oil and gas to invest in green energy projects.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026

However, the additional production of gas from Jackdaw could result in more corporation tax revenues for the UK government, because any profits made by the owner would be taxable.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026

Net revenues increased 5.5% to $11.4 billion, compared with Wall Street models for $11.32 billion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

“And when that happened, their revenues would dry up.”

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

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Related Words

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

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