earnings

plural noun

earn·​ings ˈər-niŋz 

1

: something (such as wages) earned

2

: the balance of revenue after deduction of costs and expenses

Synonyms

• revenue
• income
• profit

Examples of earnings in a Sentence

earnings from her babysitting jobs that are being put away for college

after subtracting what we spent on music and refreshments, the earnings from our charity gala were still impressive

Recent Examples on the Web

Alphabet, Amazon and Apple are set to report earnings after the bell Thursday and all eyes will be scrutinizing the results to see how those challenges affected the crucial December quarter. —Nicole Goodkind, CNN, 2 Feb. 2023

The three tech giants, the Detroit auto maker and the energy behemoth are among companies set to report earnings Thursday. —Josh Mitchell, WSJ, 2 Feb. 2023

Tech giants Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta report earnings this week. —Harold Maass, The Week, 30 Jan. 2023

The world’s largest maker of chips, smartphones and display panels is set to report fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday, followed by a call during which analysts are likely to question its capacity management plans. —Sohee Kim, Fortune, 29 Jan. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1594, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing earnings

• price-earnings ratio

Rhymes for earnings

• burnings
• learnings
• turnings
• yearnings

Kids Definition

earnings

plural noun

earn·​ings ˈər-niŋz 

: something earned

especially : money received as wages or gained as profit

Legal Definition

earnings

noun plural

earn·​ings

1

: something (as wages or dividends) earned as compensation for labor or the use of capital

2

: the balance of revenue for a specified period that remains after deducting related costs and expenses incurred compare profit