finance
Americannoun
-
the management of revenues; the conduct or transaction of money matters generally, especially those affecting the public, as in the fields of banking and investment.
-
finances, the monetary resources, as of a government, company, organization, or individual; revenue.
verb (used with object)
-
finances,
present (3rd person singular)
-
financed,
past participle, past
-
financing
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
finances,
present (3rd person singular)
-
financed,
past participle, past
-
financing
present participle
noun
-
the system of money, credit, etc, esp with respect to government revenues and expenditures
-
funds or the provision of funds
-
(plural) funds; financial condition
verb
-
(tr) to provide or obtain funds, capital, or credit for
-
(intr) to manage or secure financial resources
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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superfinancenoun
-
prefinanceverb (used with object)
-
self-financeverb (used with object)
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underfinanceverb (used with object)
-
financeableadjective
-
unfinancedadjective
-
well-financedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
financesimple
-
financessimple
-
have financedperfect
-
has financedperfect
-
am financingprogressive
-
are financingprogressive
-
is financingprogressive
-
have been financingperfect progressive
-
has been financingperfect progressive
Past
-
financedsimple
-
had financedperfect
-
was financingprogressive
-
were financingprogressive
-
had been financingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of finance
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English finaunce, from Anglo-French, Middle French finance, from fin(er) “to end, settle, pay” ( see fine 2) + -ance -ance
Explanation
To finance something is to pay for it, like using the money you earn at your part-time job to finance your cell phone bill. As a verb, it carries two very different meanings: "to pay for" or "obtain on credit." So, if you can finance your trip, it means you have the money to pay for it. Anyone who works in finance, meaning the banking and investment industry, will tell you plenty of people get in trouble by letting credit cards finance things like vacations.
Vocabulary lists containing finance
"Women in Aviation," Vocabulary from the informational text
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Richard Nixon's "Checkers" Speech (1952)
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Economics
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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.
See Examples For:
She is now CEO of Velastegui Ventures and a board director at BlackLine, which builds “trust infrastructure” for finance in the AI era.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2026
The Eurogroup, which brings together eurozone finance ministers, announced the two candidates last week, praising their "extensive experience and international standing".
From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2026
Kress joined Nvidia more than a decade ago after finance roles at Cisco, Microsoft and Texas Instruments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2026
"I think it's pretty outrageous," 38-year-old Chen Yu-ting, who works in finance, said of Huang's affair with someone believed to have spied for Beijing.
From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2026
“Your uncle was overseas finance manager, Alex,” he said.
From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz
Analysts say we shouldn't be surprised by the huge role played by family finances in determining a school's outcome.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2026
He added councils should make more use of the shared resource, especially with increased strain on finances.
From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2026
The logistics may take some finessing, but your overall finances are solid.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 11, 2026
It can push us toward panic selling, drive us to make wild assumptions about the world, and even prompt us to take a hard look at our own finances.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 10, 2026
She was so hyped on espresso when she taped her audition that “I sounded like I was speaking chipmunk” But she didn’t seem too disappointed, especially since her finances are okay now.
From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen
The film will be financed and produced by the Barsamian family, who lead Horror Inc., which created the “Friday the 13th” franchise.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2026
He expects a Chinese maritime-insurance hub would “become a substantial player in ship insurance” because most ships are made in China, financed in China and a lot of cargo comes from China.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2026
Anthropic's listing is "just another chapter" in investors' worries over the cost of the AI buildout and how it gets financed, Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth Management, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Nov. 10, 2026
The new data centers cost money to run, the chips inside them wear out, and some of the expansion is now financed with debt.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026
Farmer suspected the root cause of this growing problem stemmed from decades back—long before Peru adopted the model WHO program in 1991—when drug-resistant strains were spawned by inadequately financed and unsupervised treatment.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
“Estimates risk moving lower as financing costs and equity dilution surprise relative to consensus estimates.”
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 13, 2026
Nscale has six months to secure financing to build the data center and acquire the chips needed for the site, according to sources cited by the Financial Times.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2026
Huang was known for forging financial relationships with Nvidia suppliers and customers, a concept referred to by some on Wall Street as circular financing.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 13, 2026
Among those deals was a more than $100 billion financing guarantee for a new data center in Ohio for ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.
From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2026
“Oh, it’s a terrific plan. It could really ramp up our timetable. Get us to our financing source sooner. I just have one concern. One qualm.”
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
