index fund

noun

1. a fund, as a mutual fund or pension fund, with a portfolio that contains many of the securities listed in a major stock index in order to match the performance of the stock market generally.

Word History and Origins

Origin of index fund¹

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

Those stakes, which are mostly held for years in passive index funds, have collectively gained roughly $1 billion in value since the beginning of this year.

From Washington Post

Following the ETF leadersThe SPDR S&P Biotech ETF is an industry-specific index fund with holdings among bio-technology companies.

From Quartz

Since the beginning of the 21st century, people have been able to invest more easily and cheaply in global portfolios of companies across the world, in particular though index funds.

From Time

Indeed, in recent years money has flooded into cheap index funds and ETFs, many of which robotically track a benchmark rather than trying to beat the overall market.

From Quartz

All of my investments are in mutual funds, mainly low-cost index funds, and they’re topped up with the big six and other tech high-flyers.

From Fortune

I plan to invest in an index fund or something aggressive since I have lots of time.

From The Daily Beast

I recommend you allocate 30% to a broad international stock fund, and 70% in a broad US index fund, such as an S&P500 fund.

From The Daily Beast

Putting all that money into a plain-vanilla S&P 500 index fund would have lost us just 4.4 percent during that time.

From The Daily Beast