unprofitable
Americanadjective
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being without profit; not showing or turning a profit.
a series of unprofitable ventures.
-
pointless or futile.
an unprofitable three years in a routine job.
adjective
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not making a profit
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not fruitful or beneficial
Other Word Forms
- unprofitability noun
- unprofitableness noun
- unprofitably adverb
Etymology
Origin of unprofitable
1275–1325; Middle English. See un- 1, profitable
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.
The stock got crushed in early 2022 as the market cooled and interest rates rose, triggering a shift out of smaller, unprofitable growth companies.
From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026
Many unprofitable software companies have borrowed risky loans from private-credit funds over the years, and earlier this year, JPMorgan told some funds that it was restricting their access to credit based on their exposure.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026
PwC said NCP had a "high concentration" of inflexible leases that prevented it from reducing costs or scrapping unprofitable car parks.
From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026
The exchange asked it to “explain the commercial rationale for the company’s cross-industry acquisition of a persistently unprofitable target while itself is suffering continuous losses,” the company said in a filing.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026
Oddly, Cassano was as likely to direct his anger at profitable traders as at unprofitable ones, for the anger was triggered not by financial loss but by the faintest whiff of insurrection.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
