revenue
Americannoun
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revenues
plural
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the income of a government from taxation, excise duties, customs, or other sources, appropriated to the payment of the public expenses.
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the government department charged with the collection of such income.
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revenues, the collective items or amounts of income of a person, a state, etc.
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the return or yield from any kind of property, patent, service, etc.; income.
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an amount of money regularly coming in.
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a particular item or source of income.
noun
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the income accruing from taxation to a government during a specified period of time, usually a year
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a government department responsible for the collection of government revenue
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( as modifier )
revenue men
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the gross income from a business enterprise, investment, property, etc
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a particular item of income
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something that yields a regular financial return; source of income
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing revenue
Vocabulary from "Stop Expecting Games to Build Empathy" by Julie Muncy
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Stamp Act (1765)
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Fidel Castro (1926-2016) Memorial List
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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.
See Examples For:
That commitment gave the provider a source of guaranteed revenue, making it easier to borrow the money needed to build the infrastructure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Marvell reported earnings and revenue roughly in line with Wall Street estimates.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
Murphy said strong demand for the company’s data-center products drove the quarter’s results, with revenue there growing 46% from the previous year.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
The arrangement, announced in July, gave Nvidia two ways to profit: first by selling its chips; and then by collecting a portion of the revenue generated when customers rented them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
There were a lot of numbers and words like deduction and revenue and net.
From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling
The tax would start small — perhaps just 1% on the revenues, deductions and assets passed between entities — but would compound with every duplicative layer of ownership.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
In a highly anticipated report, the world's most valuable company shattered forecasts by unveiling revenues more than doubled on-year in the second quarter and said it expected another blowout in July-September.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
These move Iranian oil proceeds and revenues from other exports into currencies such as dollars, euros and Emirati dirhams.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Advisory firm Oxford Economics said the direct impact on Iran's revenues would be "somewhat of a damp squib".
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
WorldCom and Global Crossing fabricated billions of dollars in revenues to pump up their stock prices.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
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.
