lucrative

adjective

lu·​cra·​tive ˈlü-krə-tiv How to pronounce lucrative (audio)
: producing wealth : profitable
lucratively adverb
lucrativeness noun

Did you know?

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").

Examples of lucrative in a Sentence

Their success has given Gladwell an active, and extremely lucrative, second career as a public speaker. Much in demand, he is paid in the neighborhood of $40,000 per lecture. Rachel Donadio, New York Times Book Review, 5 Feb. 2006
Clubs take care of their star and other best players first, paying them lucrative salaries. By the time they get to the bottom half of the roster, they would not have enough money left to pay veterans worthwhile salaries … Murray Chass, New York Times, 16 Aug. 1994
Since the health care industry is lucrative and largely insulated from the usual disciplines of the marketplace, it has been able to absorb an ever-growing fraction of the gross domestic product. Marcia Angell, New England Journal of Medicine, 17 June 1993
The learned profession of the law was certainly not behind any other learned profession in its Bacchanalian propensities; neither was Mr. Stryver, already fast shouldering his way to a large and lucrative practice, behind his compeers in this particular, any more than in the drier parts of the legal race. Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859
The business has proved to be highly lucrative. the new manager's mission was to turn the failing store into a lucrative operation
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Tesla instead found an unusually lucrative way to make money by flipping many of the off-lease cars to new buyers, according to four people familiar with Tesla's retail operations. Chris Kirkham, USA Today, 16 May 2025 This period has turned out to be a very lucrative one for the singer-songwriter, as interest in her catalog is apparently up significantly from just a few days ago. Hugh McIntyre, Forbes.com, 16 May 2025 The price of oil, Russia’s most lucrative export and the lifeblood of its war economy, have fallen to their lowest point since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, and Putin needs the West to ease its sanctions against Russia now more than ever. Simon Shuster, Time, 15 May 2025 One of the least lucrative income streams for player estates: the Hall of Fame itself. Brendan Coffey, Sportico.com, 14 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for lucrative

Word History

Etymology

Middle English lucratif, from Middle French, from Latin lucrativus, from lucratus, past participle of lucrari to gain, from lucrum

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of lucrative was in the 15th century

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Cite this Entry

“Lucrative.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lucrative. Accessed 22 May. 2025.

Kids Definition

lucrative

adjective
lu·​cra·​tive ˈlü-krət-iv How to pronounce lucrative (audio)
: producing wealth : profitable
lucratively adverb
lucrativeness noun

Legal Definition

lucrative

adjective
lu·​cra·​tive ˈlü-krə-tiv How to pronounce lucrative (audio)
1
: producing wealth or profit
2
: acquired, received, or had without burdensome conditions or giving of consideration
lucratively adverb
lucrativeness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on lucrative

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