revenue

American  

[rev-uhn-yoo, -uh-noo] / ˈrɛv ənˌyu, -əˌnu /

noun

1. the income of a government from taxation, excise duties, customs, or other sources, appropriated to the payment of the public expenses.

2. the government department charged with the collection of such income.

3. revenues, the collective items or amounts of income of a person, a state, etc.

4. the return or yield from any kind of property, patent, service, etc.; income.

5. an amount of money regularly coming in.

6. a particular item or source of income.

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revenue British  

/ ˈrɛvɪˌnjuː /

noun

1. the income accruing from taxation to a government during a specified period of time, usually a year

2. 1. a government department responsible for the collection of government revenue

   2. ( as modifier )

      revenue men

3. the gross income from a business enterprise, investment, property, etc

4. a particular item of income

5. something that yields a regular financial return; source of income

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revenue Cultural  

1. The income of local, state, or national governments.

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Other Word Forms

• nonrevenue adjective
• revenual adjective
• revenued adjective

Etymology

Origin of revenue

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Middle French, noun use of feminine past participle of revenir “to return,” from Latin revenīre, equivalent to re- re- + venīre “to come ”

Explanation

Revenue is money earned by a business, or income received by the government from taxes. The government is always interested in dreaming up new sources of revenue, and so is the average head of a company unless she doesn't want to be the head anymore. Revenue is from a French word meaning "to return or come back," and dollar returns are always a welcome thing. Declining advertising revenue will doom your website, no matter how great it is. If your lemonade stand is not making a profit, you might consider lowering costs. Maybe you could get cheaper lemonade mix? Or you might look for more creative and exciting ways to increase revenue––like raiding the pantry for cookies you can sell as well.

Example Sentences

Walt Disney Co. saw record quarterly revenue for its theme parks division, but its Fubo deal and YouTube carriage dispute dragged down total segment operating income.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2026

Within markets, equity revenue increased 17% to $4.5 billion, due to increased client activity, while fixed-income revenue surged 21% to $7.1 billion amid strength in the commodities, credit and currencies businesses.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 14, 2026

Brian Elliott, co-founder and CEO of enterprise AI code generation firm Blitzy said tokenmaxxing is like trying to measure a company’s revenue based on the number of cold calls its sales team makes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026

Darzalex, which is J&J’s multiple myeloma drug and top-selling product, brought in about $4.0 billion in revenue, up from $3.2 billion in the same three months last year.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 14, 2026

Unions gained strength; the Pinkerton National Detective Agency gained revenue.

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

Related Words

• credit
• dividend
• earnings
• fund
• gain
• interest
• pay
• proceeds
• receipt
• return
• salary
• stock
• wealth
• yield