earnings
Americannoun
plural noun
-
money or other payment earned
-
the profits of an enterprise
Etymology
Origin of earnings
before 1050; Middle English erning, Old English earning, earnung merit, pay. See earn 1, -ing 1, -s 3
Explanation
Earnings are the amount of money you make from doing a job. You'll be a lot more excited about babysitting when you learn your earnings will be more than generous. Most earnings come from work that you've done, although money you earn from an investment can also be called earnings. Any financial profit or gain you make go into the earnings category, since you earn that money, whether through work, luck, or intelligence. The Proto-Germanic root, *aznon, means "do harvest work."
Vocabulary lists containing earnings
One Idea, Part 1
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Century 21 Accounting, 9e, Chapters 11-14
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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.
Goldman’s report calculated that a third of the Stoxx 600’s aggregate wage bill could be automated, which could lift earnings by as much as 24% if implemented successfully.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 9, 2026
Analysts are looking for adjusted earnings of $8.73 a share.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2026
And if that’s not enough, CoreWeave, a poster child for the debt-fueled AI boom, reports earnings Tuesday.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 9, 2026
The Italian bank has limited scope for material earnings per share upgrades, RBC says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2026
I take out my earnings for the day and put them on the kitchen counter.
From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
