remunerative
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- nonremunerative adjective
- nonremuneratively adverb
- remuneratively adverb
- remunerativeness noun
- unremunerative adjective
- unremuneratively adverb
Etymology
Origin of remunerative
First recorded in 1620–30; remunerate + -ive
Explanation
When something is remunerative, it means people get paid for it. Your job is remunerative, and if your research into new farming methods leads to a big government contract, then that also could be called remunerative. Remunerative can also mean that something generates a lot of money, like the remunerative ice cream truck that appears at the park entrance on the hottest days of summer. In Latin, munus and muner- mean "gift." Re- means "again," emphasizing that the reward keeps coming, whether it is a weekly paycheck or something that continues to generate sales, like the ice cream truck.
Vocabulary lists containing remunerative
"The Blessings of Liberty and Education" by Frederick Douglass
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The Underground Railroad
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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.
He found the work boring, subject to arbitrary management dictates and not satisfactorily remunerative.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026
In the long run, experts say India must modernise its agriculture, making farming more remunerative, and become more competitive to boost exports.
From BBC • Mar. 30, 2025
Jane is a novelist in Los Angeles for whom writing, while never particularly remunerative, has stopped being fun.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 3, 2024
On the other side is the warm and wildly remunerative embrace of lobbying.
From Slate • Dec. 7, 2023
The runaways were a different sort of beast but more remunerative.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
