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.

---

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

---

revenue Cultural  

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

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonrevenue
  adjective
• revenual
  adjective
• revenued
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• revenues
  plural

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

See Examples For:

revenue revenues

Last month, Burnham promised to give all mayors a share of income tax revenue, saying he wanted to "bring power home" to "every postcode".

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026

The market initially liked the idea of a broad 10% revenue tariff to pay for tax reductions.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026

While energizing to those who had been working on it, the result wasn’t going to translate into revenue anytime soon, which is what the company badly needed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

The company expects its digital-doorman business to generate $500 million in annual revenue by 2030, compared with the $100 million planned for this year and $40 million last year, said Jeff Meredith, Chamberlain’s chief executive.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

It was an immense, immediate success with the public, and in consequence, the state, which raked in millions in new revenue.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

“I can tell you from the guy running the team, knowing how the business runs and what it can support in terms of revenues and expenses — the Dodgers aren’t going anywhere,” Kasten said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

The company reported in its filing that net revenues reached $41.8 billion in 2025, up 8% from $38.7 billion a year before.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026

An increase in government spending more than offset record revenues from income taxes in July.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

For the projects to meaningfully lower bills or boost investment in clean energy, the government would have to introduce specific mechanisms to redistribute some of the revenues generated, Rutter explained.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

These strangers cooperate so effectively that in 2008 Peugeot produced more than 1.5 million automobiles, earning revenues of about 55 billion euros.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

Related Words

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