mutual fund

American  

noun

1. an investment company that issues shares continuously and is obligated to repurchase them from shareholders on demand.

---

mutual fund British  

noun

1. British equivalent: unit trust.  an investment trust that issues units for public sale, the holders of which are creditors and not shareholders with their interests represented by a trust company independent of the issuing agency

---

mutual fund Cultural  

1. A company organized for the purpose of making investments. A mutual fund gets its capital stock from private individual investors, who, in effect, allow the mutual fund to decide where to invest their money.

---

Etymology

Origin of mutual fund

First recorded in 1790–1800

Example Sentences

For the top 0.1%, nearly 72% of their wealth is made up of corporate equities, mutual fund shares and private businesses, according to the Fed.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026

Advisers would lose out on that if you redeem your shares but could theoretically earn another fee if you chose to reinvest the money into a mutual fund.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026

Artificial intelligence is coming for mutual fund managers, and they should be worried.

From Barron's • Mar. 3, 2026

With a 30% return, Vanguard’s biggest active equity mutual fund beat 100% of its Lipper peers.

From Barron's • Feb. 26, 2026

One group of mutual fund companies let preferred customers trade at preferred prices, and another group was charged with hiding management fees.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt

Related Words

• bond fund
• closed-end fund
• investment fund
• retirement plan