mutual fund

American  

noun

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

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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

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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.

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Etymology

Origin of mutual fund

First recorded in 1790–1800

Example Sentences

“I think both funds are buys now, at current discount levels,” says Eric Boughton, a portfolio manager at Matisse Discounted Closed-End Fund Strategy, a mutual fund that buys discounted closed-end funds.

From Barron's • Jun. 15, 2026

Fidelity Investments, the big brokerage and mutual fund firm, long has had a rule protecting its small retail clients from plunging into initial public stock offerings while the shares were still subject to IPO-related hype.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026

Closed-end funds offer advantages that can work well for investors over the long term since this fund type allows for more flexibility in portfolio management than a traditional open-ended mutual fund.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 9, 2026

Experts will never tell you that because most of them earn their living through capital-management fees, whether it is a mutual fund, a money manager or an adviser.

From MarketWatch • May 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