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lucrative
adjective
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Paying, gainful, remunerative, and lucrative are all used to describe ways to bring home the bacon, but each term suggests a different amount of bacon being brought in. Paying is the word for jobs that yield the smallest potatoes—a paying job should provide satisfactory compensation, but you're not going to get rich by it. Gainful employment might offer a bit more cash, and gainful certainly suggests that an individual is motivated by a desire for gain. Remunerative implies that a job provides more than the usual rewards, but a lucrative position is really the one you want—that's the kind that goes beyond your initial hopes or expectations to really bring in the lucre (both lucrative and lucre come from the Latin noun lucrum, meaning "gain" or "profit").
Synonyms
Examples of lucrative in a Sentence
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lucrative.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Middle English lucratif, from Middle French, from Latin lucrativus, from lucratus, past participle of lucrari to gain, from lucrum
15th century, in the meaning defined above
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Cite this Entry
“Lucrative.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lucrative. Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.
Kids Definition
lucrative
adjectiveLegal Definition
lucrative
adjectiveMore from Merriam-Webster on lucrative
Nglish: Translation of lucrative for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of lucrative for Arabic Speakers
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