for-profit

adjective

for-prof·​it ˈfȯr-ˈprä-fət 

: established, maintained, or conducted for the purpose of making a profit

for-profit businesses

Examples of for-profit in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In Indiana, a growing data center hotspot, the consumer advocacy group, Citizens Action Coalition, reported this year that residential customers of the state’s for-profit electric utilities were absorbing the most severe rate increases in at least two decades. —Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 8 Nov. 2025

Professional sports are rapacious for-profit enterprises that produce wildly entertaining, sometimes violent, and sometimes inspiring athletic competition. —Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 7 Nov. 2025

These competitions demonstrate that San Diego city employees are delivering critical public services more reliably and cost-effectively than for-profit corporations. —Michael Zucchet, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Nov. 2025

OpenAI is also in the process of changing its business structure to a for-profit model after being formed as a not-for-profit organization. —Aman Kidwai, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1939, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for for-profit

• nonprofit
• profit
• prophet
• soffit

Kids Definition

for-profit

adjective

for-prof·​it

ˈfȯr-ˈpräf-ət

: existing or carried on for the purpose of making a profit

for-profit business