revenue

American  

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

noun

revenues plural

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.

---

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

---

revenue Cultural  

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

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonrevenue
  adjective
• revenual
  adjective
• revenued
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• revenues
  plural

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

However, the director general said those systems would be likely to result in the BBC cutting back on services that generate less commercial revenue, such as children's shows like Newsround and local news.

From BBC • Jul. 8, 2026

While Anthropic gets almost all of its revenue from corporate customers and is the market-share leader in that area, OpenAI caters to a larger swath of users.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 8, 2026

The analysts point out that Australia’s large geography, low density and high average revenue per user make it an attractive market.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 8, 2026

Critically, the lawsuit also notes that the plan threatens cap-and-invest revenue, which is used to fund housing, transit, and clean air and water projects in the state through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 7, 2026

In contrast, Strub’s purse was staggering: $100,000, plus a few thousand dollars in entry revenue, to the winner.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

Related Words

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