profit

American  

[prof-it] / ˈprɒf ɪt /

noun

• profits
  plural

1. Often profits.

   1. pecuniary gain resulting from the employment of capital in any transaction.

   2. the ratio of such pecuniary gain to the amount of capital invested.

   3. returns, proceeds, or revenue, as from property or investments.

   Synonyms:

   return

   Antonyms:

   loss

2. the monetary surplus left to a producer or employer after deducting wages, rent, cost of raw materials, etc..

   The company works on a small margin of profit.

   Synonyms:

   net income

3. advantage; benefit; gain.

   Synonyms:

   worth, use, avail, good

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verb (used without object)

• profits,
  present (3rd person singular)
• profited,
  past participle,  past
• profiting
  present participle

1. to gain an advantage or benefit.

   He profited greatly from his schooling.

2. to make a profit.

3. to take advantage.

   to profit from the weaknesses of others.

4. to be of service or benefit.

5. to make progress.

verb (used with object)

• profits,
  present (3rd person singular)
• profited,
  past participle,  past
• profiting
  present participle

1. to be of advantage or profit to.

   Nothing profits one so much as a sound education.

   Synonyms:

   help, advance

profit British  

/ ˈprɒfɪt /

noun

1. (often plural) excess of revenues over outlays and expenses in a business enterprise over a given period of time, usually a year

2. the monetary gain derived from a transaction

3. 1. income derived from property or an investment, as contrasted with capital gains

   2. the ratio of this income to the investment or principal

4. economics

   1. the income or reward accruing to a successful entrepreneur and held to be the motivating factor of all economic activity in a capitalist economy

   2. ( as modifier )

      the profit motive

5. a gain, benefit, or advantage

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verb

1. to gain or cause to gain profit

Usage

What are other ways to say profit? A profit is a gain or valuable return. How does it differ from an advantage or a benefit? Find out on Thesaurus.com. 

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• profiter
  noun
• profitlessness
  noun
• self-profit
  noun
• profitless
  adjective
• proprofit
  adjective
• unprofited
  adjective
• unprofiting
  adjective
• profitlessly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• profits
  plural

Participles

• profiting
  present
• profited
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• profit
  simple
• profits
  simple
• have profited
  perfect
• has profited
  perfect
• am profiting
  progressive
• are profiting
  progressive
• is profiting
  progressive
• have been profiting
  perfect progressive
• has been profiting
  perfect progressive

Past

• profited
  simple
• had profited
  perfect
• was profiting
  progressive
• were profiting
  progressive
• had been profiting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will profit
  simple
• will have profited
  perfect
• will be profiting
  progressive
• will have been profiting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of profit

First recorded in 1250–1300; (for the noun) Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin prōfectus “progress, profit,” noun use of past participle of prōficere “to make progress,” from prō- pro- ¹ + -ficere, combining form of facere “to do, make” ( cf. fact); verb derivative of the noun

Explanation

A profit is money you make, as opposed to money you lose. Also, anything good profits you — it benefits you. When we talk about profits, we're talking about coming out ahead. Businesses need to make a profit — money — or they'll have to fire employees, cut expenses, and maybe go out of business entirely. If more money is coming in than going out, that's a profit. Profit also means a benefit. For example, you could profit from playing baseball even if you made no money from it. Getting exercise and fun would profit anybody quite a bit.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

profit profits profited profiting

"To maximise our profit, maybe we'd have to charge $13 for a burger," says Paul.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

As for the Cash App business, gross profit was up 31% to hit $1.97 billion.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

In its sports division, Disney saw a bigger operating profit decline than it previously forecast due to four-game sweeps in the NBA basketball playoffs.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

Motorola Solutions MSI -1.06%decrease; down pointing triangle lifted its outlook after reporting a higher profit and rising revenue in the second quarter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

But Chicago’s landowners wanted profit, and at the city’s center, profit meant height.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

A new round of strong earnings reports powered the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a fresh high on Wednesday, underscoring how surging profits are underpinning the stock-market rally.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

So you might expect that those four firms are currently making huge profits from high beef prices.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

Overall profits were above analyst expectations, lifting shares.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

PBF Energy, which had its Martinez refinery out of commission from February 2025 to this May due to a fire, said it expected continued high profits in California over the quarters to come.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

When the Haitians defeated the French armies, Napoleon lost control of the world’s most productive sugar islands and with it his dream of great sugar profits.

From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson

He profited from the two front-nine par fives to pick up three birdies by the turn and lead by one.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

Though Rinsch told the streamer that his sci-fi show “White Horse” was progressing nicely, the filmmaker allegedly moved the remaining money into cryptocurrency and profited from crypto speculation over the next couple of years.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026

In South Korea, Samsung Electronics -- which has also profited massively from the AI memory chip boom -- resumed union talks in a bid to avoid a strike over bonus payments, due to start Thursday.

From Barron's ● May 18, 2026

Cumming was named Baltimore’s inspector general in 2018 by then-Mayor Catherine Pugh, who later went to prison for a criminal scheme in which she illegally profited from the sale of self-published children’s books.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026

You would have profited more than you would have thought by that trip.

From "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg

Energy majors are profiting also from their trades as oil and gas futures swing between big gains and losses on the war's latest headlines.

From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026

Multimillion-dollar lawsuits accusing companies of profiting from seized assets have overcome key legal hurdles, but reclaiming the physical properties is far from easy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

Rocio Concha, head of policy and advocacy at Which? welcomed the publication as a "significant step" in holding tech firms accountable for profiting from fraud which harms users.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

“I’m profiting because I have a lot of money and a lot of cash.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

I could explain it by arguing that profiting from a pitiful flying fish’s navigational mistake made me shy and sorrowful, while the excitement of actively capturing a great do­rado made me sanguinary and self-assured.

From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

Related Words

• acquisition
• benefit
• bottom line
• earnings
• goods
• harvest
• income
• interest
• output
• percentage
• proceeds
• product
• production
• receipt
• return
• revenue
• saving
• surplus
• turnout
• value