earnings
Americannoun
plural noun
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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.
Morgan’s earnings estimates for 2027 actually went down to $2.15 from $2.30.
From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026
Broadcom’s revenue guidance, despite an earnings beat, disappointed investors, leading to wider chip stock declines.
From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026
Cooper Cos. rose 7.1% after the medical device maker reported better-than-expected earnings late Thursday and reiterated full-year profit guidance of $4.58 to $4.66 a share, compared with Wall Street estimates of $4.62.
From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026
In its fiscal second quarter, the company expects earnings of 15 cents to 16 cents on revenue in the range of $482 million to $484 million.
From Barron's • Jun. 4, 2026
But soon all her earnings, from clerking at Dickson’s Pharmacy to waitressing at the Eat’n Park, were earmarked for a camera, and she spent hours poring over Mr. Wilkinson’s camera catalogs and photography magazines.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
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.
