cash flow

American  

noun

1. the sum of the after-tax profit of a business plus depreciation and other noncash charges: used as an indication of internal funds available for stock dividends, purchase of buildings and equipment, etc.

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cash flow British  

noun

1. the movement of money into and out of a business

2. a prediction of such movement over a given period

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Etymology

Origin of cash flow

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

One challenge for PIF’s cash flow is its setup.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 18, 2026

As a result, Citi lowers its expectations, assuming Alstom to post 700 million euros free cash flow in fiscal 2029 rather than fiscal 2027, the analyst says.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

Those plans had overshadowed growth in the company’s Amazon Web Services cloud business and worried investors about whether Amazon would be the first AI hyperscaler to report negative free cash flow.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 17, 2026

The company expects negative free cash flow of $65 million to $70 million in the first half but anticipates full-year positivity.

From Barron's • Apr. 16, 2026

Countless similar oddities result from our conventional ways of measuring, reporting, and com paring periodic quantities, whether they be the monthly cash flow of a government or the regular daily fluctuations in body temperature.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos