earnings
Americannoun
plural noun
-
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.
EARNINGS: Most S&P; 500 companies have reported earnings for the first quarter, but others continue to trickle in.
From Washington Times • May 26, 2020
EYE ON EARNINGS: A third of the companies in the S&P; 500 are set to report second-quarter earnings this week.
From Washington Times • Jul. 23, 2018
EARNINGS: Wall Street continued to pore over quarterly results from retailers.
From Seattle Times • May 30, 2018
EARNINGS: Investors turned their attention to more fourth-quarter company earnings reports.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 8, 2018
EARNINGS: Hertz shares climbed after the company said it cut costs and improved the management of its rental fleet.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 1, 2016
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.
