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.

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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

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

See Examples For:

revenue revenues

In Kings County, the project potentially could benefit the fairgrounds as a long-term revenue source, said Dena Rizzardo, chief executive of the fair board, a state entity that would have final say over any proposal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026

Third place went to the much-delayed, mixed animation-and-live action Looney Tunes flick "Coyote vs. Acme," with revenue of $11.3 million as it slipped from second place in its second week.

From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026

The company’s revenue was $1.21 billion during the nine months ended June 30, a 74% jump from the prior year period.

From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026

Dell’s client services group posted a 20% revenue gain in its latest quarter, and Lenovo reported a nearly 30% increase in revenue from PCs and smart devices.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

New York, where almost 75 percent of the state’s revenue had come from liquor taxes, was particularly hard hit.

From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler

I guess they are counting on a playoff appearance to recover the lost regular-season revenues.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026

The U.S. government’s annual interest expense on its national debt is currently around $1.2 trillion — over 3% of GDP and about 20% of tax revenues.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026

The start-up's revenues come mainly from data storage services, renting out computing power to run AI models, and AI management tools.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

The 'Big Six' - Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham - with their commercial revenues on a completely different scale, spent £1.658bn on players.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

From 1997 to 2002, revenues from hair, nail, and skin care services jumped by 42 percent nationwide, Census Bureau data show.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

Related Words

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