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.
In a story published today, I wrote about how companies would tweak their financial reporting if the Securities and Exchange Commission gives them an option to report earnings on a semiannual basis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Eyes will now be on the release of earnings this week from retail titans Walmart, Home Depot and Target, which could give a clearer view of consumer sentiment.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
Still, earnings growth for the rest of the market has also been strong and accelerating, they observe, with the median S&P 500 company growing EPS by 14%.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
Moynihan tends to slide in one vocabulary word for each earnings call.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Rhoda inspected his earnings, counting out the four pennies and three nickels twice to make sure before she looked up, eyebrows raised.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
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.
