working capital
Americannoun
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the amount of capital needed to carry on a business.
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Accounting. current assets minus current liabilities.
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liquid capital assets as distinguished from fixed capital assets.
noun
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accounting current assets minus current liabilities
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current or liquid assets
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that part of the capital of a business enterprise available for operations
Etymology
Origin of working capital
First recorded in 1900–05
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.
A smaller working capital allocation does not affect the company’s revenue or margin assumptions, and Citi makes no changes to its estimates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Instead, Alaska went after the plane, a 1969 Cessna that was the entire working capital of Jouppi’s one-man air-taxi service.
From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026
This demand for working capital in dollars is also driving inflows.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 26, 2026
“Whether this becomes a competitive advantage and not just a way to reduce working capital remains to be seen.”
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
Another development which is making larger demands upon the farmer for working capital is the increasing use of artificial fertilizers, the expenditure for which in the United States approximately doubled from 1880 to 1900.
From Readings in Money and Banking Selected and Adapted by Chester Arthur Phillips
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.
