income

American  

[in-kuhm] / ˈɪn kʌm /

noun

• incomes
  plural

1. revenue received for goods or services, or from other sources, as rents or investments.

   For years, her only source of income was the small number of stocks her father left her.

2. the money, or amount of money, received from one’s employment.

   a household with three incomes;

   a healthcare worker with an income that hasn’t increased in five years.

   Synonyms:

   earnings, wages, salary, return, gains, annuity, interest

   Antonyms:

   expenditure, outgo

3. something that comes in as an addition or increase, especially by chance.

4. Archaic. a coming in.

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income British  

/ ˈɪnkəm, ˈɪnkʌm /

noun

1. the amount of monetary or other returns, either earned or unearned, accruing over a given period of time

2. receipts; revenue

3. rare an inflow or influx

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income Cultural  

1. The amount of money received during a period of time in exchange for labor or services, from the sale of goods or property, or as a profit from financial investments.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• incomeless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• incomes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of income

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English: literally, “that which has come in,” noun use of incomen (past participle of incomen “to come in”), Old English incuman; see in, come

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Explanation

What could be simpler than to remember that income basically refers to money that "comes in," or is earned. Your income is the money you make in a given time period, for example weekly, monthly, or annually. Your income might come from many sources — salary, investments, interest or annuities. Today income is used as a noun, but the Old English word incuman was first a verb that meant "to come in," and referred to the money earned through one's labor or business dealings. The first income tax was attempted in Britain in 1404, but was so unpopular it was ended. In the United States, the Federal Income Tax became law in 1913, and, unfortunately, is still in effect.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

income incomes

It ranks 47th worst for property taxes, 42nd for sales taxes and 50th for individual income taxes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

This contrasts with Monmouthshire which had the highest household income at £61,700 as well as the most expensive average house prices at £285,000 for a first-time buyer and £387,606 overall.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

Nvidia is expected to see a 90% boost in earnings per share for its October quarter, with net income closing in on $60 billion.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 18, 2026

As Trudy approached this week, Trejo and his staff found themselves once again boarding up their seaside cafe — while bracing themselves for lost income and potential damage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026

“The distribution of income in this country was skewed and becoming more skewed, and the result was that you have more subprime customers.”

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Japan tightened rules for permanent residency this month, with foreigners required to have higher annual incomes and greater fluency in Japanese.

From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026

That means many Americans are seeing their real incomes fall.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

“It’s overwhelmingly a blue-collar victory,” she said, pointing to clients in the miliary or trades with stable incomes and careers who typically live outside of high-cost-of-living areas.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

Indexed annuities are meant to appeal to older people who may be on fixed incomes and have little appetite for risk, but still want some exposure to stock-market gains.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

Holmberg planned to test strategies for raising their incomes.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

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Related Words

• cash
• compensation
• earnings
• interest
• livelihood
• pay
• proceeds
• profit
• revenue
• royalty
• salary
• wage

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