paper profit
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of paper profit
First recorded in 1890–95
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.
Its paper profit in Trilogy Metals totals more than $90 million, assuming that the government meets its obligation to build an industrial road the company plans to use.
From Barron's • May 8, 2026
It invested $5 million in the fitness device maker Fitbit in 2013 and had a paper profit of about 20 times its cost after Fitbit’s initial public offering in mid-2015.
From New York Times • Apr. 18, 2016
And this July, when Hilton’s stock closed at $24.80, Gray and Nassetta had officially transformed Hilton into the most lucrative private equity deal ever, with a paper profit of $12 billion.
From BusinessWeek • Sep. 11, 2014
By the close those gains were trimmed back to 9.4 percent, but Berkshire was still sitting on a paper profit of nearly $3 billion.
From Reuters • Aug. 26, 2011
Teasing you along, letting you pile up a little paper profit, then bang!
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
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.
