financial
Americanadjective
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pertaining to monetary receipts and expenditures; pertaining or relating to money matters; pecuniary.
financial operations.
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of or relating to those commonly engaged in dealing with money and credit.
noun
adjective
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of or relating to finance or finances
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of or relating to persons who manage money, capital, or credit
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informal having money; in funds
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(of a club member) fully paid-up
Synonym Usage
Financial, fiscal, monetary, pecuniary refer to matters concerned with money. Financial usually refers to money matters or transactions of some size or importance: a financial wizard. Fiscal is used especially in connection with government funds, or those of any organization: the end of the fiscal year. Monetary relates especially to money as such: a monetary system or standard. Pecuniary refers to money as used in making ordinary payments: a pecuniary obligation or reward.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of financial
Explanation
If you are short on cash, you might say you have a financial problem. Talking about finances is a polite and formal way to refer to money. The similarity between the words financial and finish is no accident. Both come from the Old French word fine, which was generally used to mean "end" or "finish" and more specifically to mean "end a debt." If you pay a fine, you end the debt you owe society for, say, spitting your gum on the sidewalk, or failing to clean up after your dog.
Vocabulary lists containing financial
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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Michelle Obama's final address as First Lady (2017)
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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.
One reason financial conditions haven’t tightened is that credit spreads remain fairly low, which may also explain why stock prices seem unconcerned about the threat of a Fed rate-hiking cycle.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 25, 2026
IRS records show that the nonprofit’s financial activities kicked up dramatically in 2024, the latest year for which data are available.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2026
Meghan’s half-sister, Samantha Markle, has also defended their father, accusing their brother Thomas Jr. of fabricating the allegations for financial gain and claiming the computers had been outside their father’s possession for two years.
From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2026
Find insight on managed money, American Express and more in the latest Market Talks covering financial services.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
Morgan Stanley’s financial intellectuals—their quants—had been instrumental in teaching the rating agencies, Moody’s and S&P, how to evaluate CDOs on pools of asset-backed bonds.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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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.
