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.
QXO said the transaction would be immediately and substantially accretive to its earnings.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026
In the near-term, Intel’s data center business may also remain hampered by supply constraints cited in the last earnings call in January.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 19, 2026
Slimmon said that investors were selling their positions after scrutinizing the companies’ free cash flows, despite their strong quarterly earnings.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 19, 2026
The reason for the recent drop in valuation is also unusual: The E part of the PE ratio, companies’ expected earnings, has soared.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 19, 2026
I’d offer to share my earnings with her if I didn’t need mine so badly.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
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.
