easy money

American  

noun

1. money obtained with a minimum of effort.

2. money obtained by deception, fraud, artifice, etc.

---

easy money British  

noun

1. money made with little effort, sometimes dishonestly

2. commerce money that can be borrowed at a low interest rate

---

easy money Idioms  

1. Money obtained readily, with little effort and, often, illegally. For example, Winning the lottery—that's easy money! or I was wary of making easy money with the insider tips I'd been given. [c. 1900] Also see fast buck.

---

Etymology

Origin of easy money

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

easy money

But by the time price confirms a structural trend, the easy money has usually been made.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

The campaign bolstered the perception that Polymarket lets users make fast and easy money, as the company attempts to bring its offshore website back to the U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

Many naive prediction-market players are following in the footsteps of solo speculators searching for easy money in financial markets, where decades of studies have documented that day traders rarely make money.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026

"I think that's a very serious line of inquiry in relation to these events, we've seen a pattern... people taking cash, as it looks like quick and easy money."

From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2026

They were, at least, agonizingly aware of the easy money in the vicinity and convinced that it was theirs for a few words in the right key.

From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald