cash flow

American  

noun

• cash flows
  plural

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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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cash flows
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of cash flow

First recorded in 1950–55

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cash flow

Free cash flow grew by 20% to $183 million.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

The company maintains its fiscal 2027 and 2030 cash flow guidance, which implies cost cuts will continue as expected, Berenberg says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

So companies can overspend on buybacks, continuing to repurchase even when their shares are trading at historically high levels to earnings, cash flow or book value.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026

Meanwhile, further down the financial statements, Lee was struck by Palantir’s free cash flow, a measure of the company’s ability to generate cash in excess of what it spends on operations and equipment purchases.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 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

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