working capital

American  

noun

1. the amount of capital needed to carry on a business.

2. Accounting. current assets minus current liabilities.

3. liquid capital assets as distinguished from fixed capital assets.

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working capital British  

noun

1. accounting current assets minus current liabilities

2. current or liquid assets

3. that part of the capital of a business enterprise available for operations

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Etymology

Origin of working capital

First recorded in 1900–05

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

working capital

The around $3 billion working capital release should also aid deleveraging efforts, she writes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Overall bank lending is growing at a robust pace, buoyed by funding demand for M&As and real estate, alongside working capital needs, says NLI Research Institute economist Tsuyoshi Ueno.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

Instead, Alaska went after the plane, a 1969 Cessna that was the entire working capital of Jouppi’s one-man air-taxi service.

From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026

This demand for working capital in dollars is also driving inflows.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 26, 2026

His services have developed with the need of mills for greater credit, and their unwillingness to tie up their working capital in cotton held in their own warehouses.

From The Fabric of Civilization A Short Survey of the Cotton Industry in the United States by Guaranty Trust Company of New York

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Related Words

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