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.
Strategists led by Ben Snider say the recent rotations in the stock market have generally tracked with earnings revisions.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 20, 2026
And even if fully successful, Intel’s stock is pricing in a level of earnings power that looks hard to achieve, given the company’s shifting business model and the competitive realities of the AI chip market.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 19, 2026
These macroeconomic forces are important to investors, but once earnings season begins, investors have microeconomic data to parse through.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 19, 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
With the victory, Seabiscuit took back the lead in the earnings race, amassing about $9,000 more than War Admiral.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
