ETF

noun

ˌē-ˌtē-ˈef 

plural ETFs

: an investment fund that is created to track the performance of a particular market index, commodity, industry, etc. : exchange-traded fund

While ETFs are similar to mutual funds in that they provide diversification by investing in a broad basket of securities, they do have one major difference: ETFs can trade like a stock during the trading day.

—Adam Shell

Examples of ETF in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

One example of an ETF in this space is the Brookmont Catastrophic Bond ETF (ILS). — Cheryl Winokur Munk, CNBC, 10 Sep. 2026

Nearly seven months later, the VanEck Agribusiness ETF (MOO) is simmering. — Jay Woods, CNBC, 3 Sep. 2026

The Nasdaq alone has more than 200 such products, including the Invesco QQQ trust and iShares NASDAQ 100 ETF, with more than $800 billion in assets. — Allison Morrow, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1999, in the meaning defined above

Legal Definition

ETF

abbreviation

exchange-traded fund