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.
Also, the Thailand bank’s 4Q net-interest margin was lower than expected, partly owing to a decline in earnings’ asset yield.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 21, 2026
Analysts have started trimming corporate earnings' estimates and on Thursday, the European Central Bank cut its 2022 growth target to 3.7% from 4.2% while raising its inflation forecast to 5.1%.
From Reuters • Mar. 14, 2022
The soft advertising sales at Time Warner triggered the selloff of media stocks, which continued Thursday with additional earnings’ reports.
From Los Angeles Times • May 4, 2017
Apple, CFO Peter Oppenheimer, said the company is expecting a “busy fall” after Cook said in the earnings’ press release that the company will announce some “amazing new products in the fall and 2014.”
From Forbes • Jul. 27, 2013
Since early 1948, Alleghany had sold more than $17 million of its railroad holdings, because Young was bearish on their earnings' future.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
