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Fiscal derives from the Latin noun fiscus, meaning "basket" or "treasury." In ancient Rome, fiscus was the term for the treasury controlled by the emperor, where the money was literally stored in baskets and was collected primarily in the form of revenue from the provinces. Fiscus also gave English confiscate, which is most familiar as a verb meaning "to seize by or as if by authority," but it can additionally refer to the forfeiting of private property to public use. Today, we often encounter fiscal in "fiscal year," a 12-month accounting period not necessarily coinciding with the calendar year.
Examples of fiscal in a Sentence
Medora Lee, USA Today, 30 Apr. 2025
Callen, who is the former International Monetary Fund chief to Saudi Arabia, estimates that with oil at $60 a barrel, Saudi Arabia’s fiscal deficit would be $62 billion, more than double the $27 billion estimated in its annual budget.
—Amy Gunia, CNN Money, 28 Apr. 2025
Trefis Team, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2024
This is substantiated by the fact that the company’s gross margin in business has largely remained intact in the nine months of operations in the current fiscal at ~45% as compared to the last fiscal.
—Trefis Team, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for fiscal
Cite this Entry
“Fiscal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fiscal. Accessed 5 May. 2025.
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fiscal
adjective
Adjective
Latin fiscalis, from fiscus basket, treasury
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