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.
“Greed occurs during earnings seasons and fear after,” he said in a phone interview.
From MarketWatch • May 23, 2026
Last year, the Trade Unions Congress produced analysis which estimated that in 2024 3.8 million people worked an average of 7.2 unpaid hours a week, losing out on earnings of £8,000 per year.
From BBC • May 23, 2026
We advocate staying invested to benefit from rising earnings while diversifying across the AI value chain to mitigate company-specific risks.
From Barron's • May 23, 2026
In other words, earnings periods tend to bring company-specific good news that can support stocks, while the stretches after earnings often leave investors more focused on macroeconomic risks, politics and geopolitics.
From MarketWatch • May 23, 2026
At any rate it would have cost him most of his year’s earnings to buy Maddie one year of flying lessons.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
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.
