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earned income

American

noun

income from wages, salaries, fees, or the like, accruing from labor or services performed by the earner.

earned income British

noun

income derived from paid employment and comprising mainly wages and salaries

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of earned income

First recorded in 1880–85

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:

earned income

Nehls does list a six-figure salary in earned income from his consulting business in 2024.

From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026

I just received a letter from the Social Security Administration stating that I was overpaid based on my earned income in 2019.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026

If you have earned income and meet the eligibility requirements, consider putting some or even all of the money into a Roth IRA.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 8, 2026

Esther Holm, Grossman’s attorney, said the “evidence will show that she had not earned income for many years, since this accident and prior to this accident.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026

Some draw on government help in the form of food stamps, housing vouchers, the earned income tax credit, or—for those coming off welfare in relatively generous states—subsidized child care.

From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023