Meaning of profit in English

profit

noun

/ˈprɒf.ɪt/ us

/ˈprɑː.fɪt/

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B2 [ C or U ]

money that is earned in trade or business after paying the costs of producing and selling goods and services:

She makes a big profit from selling waste material to textile companies.

A year ago the Tokyo company had a pretax profit of 35 million yen.

Company profits are down from last year's figures.

You don't expect to make much profit within the first couple of years of setting up a company.

He sold his house at a huge profit.

turn a profit

to begin to earn a profit:

He’s been in business five years, but has not yet turned a profit.

[ U ]

the good result or advantage that can be achieved by a particular action or activity:

There's no profit to be gained from endlessly discussing whose fault it was.

More examplesFewer examples

The school summer fair made a clear profit of £500.
They buy paintings at auctions and then resell them at a vast profit to collectors.
We agreed before we did the deal that we'd both get an equal share of the profit.
All our profits are re-invested in research and development.
The successful branding and marketing of the new beer has already boosted sales and increased profits.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Profits & losses

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Advantage and disadvantage

(Definition of profit from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

profit | American Dictionary

profit

noun [ C/U ]

/ˈprɑf·ɪt/

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money that a business earns above what it costs to produce and sell goods and services:

[ U ] Any profit made on the sale is taxable.

[ C ] A lot of businesses are reaping huge profits.

Profit can also mean benefit:

[ U ] He could see little profit in arguing with them.

profit

verb [ I/T ]

/ˈprɑf·ɪt/

earn money, or benefit:

[ I ] It’s sickening that somebody would profit from her misfortune.

[ T ] fml What will it profit us to make this bargain (= How will we benefit)?

(Definition of profit from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

profit | Business English

profit

noun [ C or U ]

COMMERCE, FINANCE

/ˈprɒfɪt/ us

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money that is earned in trade or business, especially after paying the costs of producing and selling goods and services:

The group has had an uneven record in recent years, swinging back and forth between profits and losses.

make/realize/turn a profit The company said it had made a profit of about £1.4bn on the deal.

after-tax/pre-tax profit Pre-tax profits rose 22.3% to £13.7m.

The expectation is that both turnover and trading profit will have increased during last year.

sell sth at a profit A realized gain occurs when we sell an investment at a profit.

profit on sth He will make a $431m profit on the sale.

for profit Banks made new loans, then swiftly sold them off for profit, using the proceeds to extend still more.

report profits In the year to March the company reported profits after tax of €900,000.

profits fall/increase/rise Sales and profits rose last year.

Concerns have been raised that a stagnating economy is hampering corporate profit growth.

boost/increase profits

an increase/jump/rise in profit

a drop/fall in profit

big/record/strong profits

future/short-term/small profits

annual/corporate/taxable profits

be in/come into profit

to be earning, or start to earn, money from a trade or business rather than losing it:

Some want it to be illegal to make anyone redundant if you are in profit.

first-half, first-quarter, etc. profit

profits for the first half, first quarter, etc. of a financial year:

The US entertainment giant showed how second-quarter profits had more than doubled.

pure profit

profit that does not need to have any costs taken away:

Once overheads are covered, 55c of every $1 of sales is pure profit.

Examples of profit

profit

The book would in my view have profited from a more strict concentration on political participation and representation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Her family was one of those whose claim to gentility was supported by limited real property combined with the noninheritable profits of office.%!

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The requirement that they cannot distribute their profits is clearly set out in policy.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, there is mixed empirical support that employee stock ownership improves profits or productivity.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In fact lowering of prices and profits, though not significant, has shown a negative relation, hinting that such competition may decrease performance.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Three-fifths of the journals have no control over their profits, and the majority of journals use the association's legal counsel or media relations staff.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They placed higher priority on managing resources in cooperation with nature than on getting the highest possible yields or profits.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Rather than keep her profits, however, she donated them all to the hospice that had cared for her beloved husband.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

His main public role was as a member of the royal commission on the taxation of profits and income which began sitting in 1951.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, pursuing profits was approved under three conditions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Under existing arrangements, companies paid income tax at the standard rate on all their profits, and the dividends paid to shareholders showed this tax deducted.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Within the divisions, profits tended to come from a few companies.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, much of the profits of coffee production were sent abroad.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Also, the divestiture of theaters eliminated the studios' profits from their theater chains.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Additionally, offsetting of profits between time periods does not subsidize farmers who regularly produce very high incomes from organic farming with little fluctuation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of profit

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with profit

profit

These are words often used in combination with profit.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

after-tax profit

How does he justify the fact that a company that he wants to succeed had to pay dividends amounting to £8·6 million, although its after-tax profit was £5·2 million?

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

annual profit

This is nearly 6 times the annual profit earned by a concessionaire who abides by the 30-year concession contract.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

anticipated profit

It is not suffering a cut, it is just suffering a reduction in its anticipated profit.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

See all collocations with profit

What is the pronunciation of profit?

Translations of profit

in Chinese (Traditional)

利潤，盈利, 好處，益處…

in Chinese (Simplified)

利润，盈利, 好处，益处…

in Spanish

beneficio, beneficios, ganancia…

in Portuguese

lucro, lucro [masculine], lucrar…

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in Italian

नफा, फायदा, विशिष्ट कृती…

利益, 収益, 利益（りえき）…

kâr, kazanç, yarar…

bénéfice [masculine], profit [masculine], tirer profit…

guany(s), benefici(s)…

winst, nut, voordeel…

பொருட்கள் மற்றும் சேவைகளை உற்பத்தி செய்வதற்கும் விற்பனை செய்வதற்கும் செலவுகளைச் செலுத்திய பின்னர் வர்த்தகம் அல்லது வணிகத்தில் சம்பாதிக்கப்படும் பணம், ஒரு குறிப்பிட்ட செயல் அல்லது செயல்பாட்டால் அடையக்கூடிய நல்ல முடிவு அல்லது நன்மை…

मुनाफा, लाभ, (किसी क्रिया या गतिविधि से) फायदा…

નફો, (એક ક્રિયા અથવા પ્રવૃત્તિ) થી લાભ…

fortjeneste, profit, gavn…

vinst, förtjänst, behållning…

keuntungan, faedah, mendapat keuntungan…

der Gewinn, profitieren…