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
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funds or the provision of funds
-
(plural) funds; financial condition
verb
-
(tr) to provide or obtain funds, capital, or credit for
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(intr) to manage or secure financial resources
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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superfinancenoun
-
prefinanceverb (used with object)
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self-financeverb (used with object)
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underfinanceverb (used with object)
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financeableadjective
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unfinancedadjective
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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:
Trade, finance and people-to-people ties binding the countries are much stronger than anything between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
The Ekonomichna Pravda newspaper reported that the finance ministry had postponed spending on preparing the energy system for winter until December owing to a lack of funds.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
The campaign had only $207,000 in the bank, according to the latest campaign finance reports.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
Continuously, over many decades, they have helped to finance their own community's local professional team.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
To finance their arms purchases, the Allies had borrowed more than two billion dollars from American banks, a debt that would never be repaid if Germany won the war.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
"The situation regarding public finances remains challenging," Koretsky said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
But it’s hard to get a read on a company such as OpenAI or Anthropic, because their finances aren’t public and may not be for some time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
Meanwhile, consumer sentiment in the U.K. edged higher as perceptions of personal finances and the economy improved, data also published Friday showed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Local residents said filling up their vehicles was also putting pressure on household finances.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
We reviewed the education of the children, the health of my mother, which was not very good, and our finances.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
If you financed that with a 30-year loan with an interest rate of 7.03%, your monthly principal and interest payment would be $2,290.57.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
The proposals do not outline how the reforms would be financed.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
WASHINGTON—President Trump said that Donald Trump Jr. reimbursed a Russian businessman who financed his son’s lavish wedding afterparty in the Bahamas earlier this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
He worked at a private equity fund financed by the U.S.
From Salon ● Sep. 16, 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
“As governments and companies seek financing, markets are absorbing unprecedented issuance, increasing competition for scarce capital,” said Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy and research, and Michael Reynolds, vice president of investment strategy, at Glenmede.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
Most European companies rely on financing from banks, which are traditionally more cautious than venture capital investors about backing businesses that may take years to become profitable, said Meyers, an expert in EU digital policy.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
Joshua's agreement with the Saudi organisers financing the event stipulated the contest would take place in Britain and would have had to be renegotiated for a move to the United States.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
A group of existing lenders has agreed to provide roughly $100 million in debtor-in-possession financing to fund the operations and the costs of the bankruptcy case, the people said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
Cleopatra, who would be financing the expedition, may have helped with the strategizing, too.
From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby
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.
