profitable
Americanadjective
-
yielding profit; remunerative.
a profitable deal.
-
beneficial or useful.
- Synonyms:
- helpful, valuable, advantageous
adjective
Other Word Forms
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.
Anthropic also reportedly said that it’s been profitable on an adjusted basis for the past two quarters, and cash-flow positive for the past quarter.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
Her inquiries among farmers on her family’s estate at Edgeworthstown, Ireland, showed that potatoes were the most profitable crop.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
This month, they are expecting around 30,000 visitors but Douglas said the event is not "massively profitable" due to costs.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
The reality is, you only have three airlines this year that are profitable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
But they sent in a physician, in whose hands and voice was a more enduring, a more profitable comfort than any I ever found in Orgoreyn.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
