revenue
Americannoun
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revenues
plural
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the income of a government from taxation, excise duties, customs, or other sources, appropriated to the payment of the public expenses.
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the government department charged with the collection of such income.
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revenues, the collective items or amounts of income of a person, a state, etc.
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the return or yield from any kind of property, patent, service, etc.; income.
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an amount of money regularly coming in.
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a particular item or source of income.
noun
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the income accruing from taxation to a government during a specified period of time, usually a year
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a government department responsible for the collection of government revenue
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( as modifier )
revenue men
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the gross income from a business enterprise, investment, property, etc
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a particular item of income
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something that yields a regular financial return; source of income
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing revenue
Vocabulary from "Stop Expecting Games to Build Empathy" by Julie Muncy
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Stamp Act (1765)
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Fidel Castro (1926-2016) Memorial List
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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.
See Examples For:
The cost of doing business in college football also went up exponentially with the advent of revenue sharing, all while the university was going through a financial crisis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Electric revenue was $3.14 billion, up from $2.78 billion a year earlier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
"This week is going to be unbelievable in terms of revenue for the hotel, it's probably going to be one of the best Augusts we've had."
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
For the second quarter, Sweetgreen’s revenue rose 3.8% to $192.7 million, below Wall Street analysts’ estimates for $194.5 million.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
There were a lot of numbers and words like deduction and revenue and net.
From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling
The revenues of 1736 Family Crisis Center have fluctuated in recent years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Siemens Energy ENR 3.73%increase; green up pointing triangle said its profits more than tripled in its third fiscal quarter, while orders and revenues reached record highs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Operating income fell 8.8 percent -- the fifth straight quarterly drop -- to 1.1 trillion yen and revenues rose 10.4 percent to 13.5 trillion yen, Toyota said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
U.S. revenues now comprise 81% of the overall business, up from 73% last year, Palantir CFO David Glazer told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
One of his first tasks was to convince the generic manufacturers that reduced second-line antibiotic prices could still result in significant revenues and profits.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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.
