profitable
Americanadjective
-
yielding profit; remunerative.
a profitable deal.
-
beneficial or useful.
- Synonyms:
- helpful, valuable, advantageous
adjective
Other Word Forms
- nonprofitability noun
- nonprofitable adjective
- nonprofitablely adverb
- nonprofitableness noun
- profitability noun
- profitableness noun
- profitably adverb
- subprofitable adjective
- subprofitableness noun
- subprofitably adverb
Etymology
Origin of profitable
Explanation
Things that are profitable make money or are beneficial in other ways. Businesses hope to be profitable in the financial sense, but a profitable relationship is one that's good for everyone involved. Profitable started out as a word to describe anything useful, but it hooked up with finance in the mid-1700s. Profits are measured in money earned beyond expenses, so profitable businesses or transactions make money. A busy restaurant, sold-out concert, and best-selling book are all profitable. People also use this word for situations that are good in ways that don’t involve money. If you learned a lot from something, then it was a profitable experience, even if you didn't make any cash.
Vocabulary lists containing profitable
Content Summary 4.1: Causes and Consequences of Iberian Maritime Exploration and Colonialism
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From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
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Business, List 3
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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.
In 2018, he found that demand for cafeteria food was too low to be profitable, and he pivoted to a nightclub and lounge concept called Clifton’s Republic, featuring multiple dining and drinking venues.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 18, 2026
“After all, this ‘buy the dip’ strategy, if you can call it that, has proved consistently profitable since October 2022,” he added.
From Barron's • Apr. 17, 2026
His success in signing up many of the nation’s biggest companies as customers brought the company’s mutual funds hundreds of billions of dollars and created a profitable business.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
On Thursday, a LIV source told BBC Sport that four of its 14 events would be profitable in 2026, along with 10 of its 13 teams.
From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026
For many of the lines, these short trips were even more profitable than their ocean crossings.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
