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For more information on profit, visit Britannica.com.

noun

1. Something beneficial: advantage, avail, benefit, blessing, boon¹, favor, gain. See help/harm/harmless.
2. Something that contributes to or increases one's well-being: advantage, benefit, good, interest (often used in plural). See help/harm/harmless.
3. Something earned, won, or otherwise acquired: earnings, gain, return. See get/lose, money.
4. The quality of being suitable or adaptable to an end: account, advantage, avail, benefit, use, usefulness, utility. See used/unused.

verb

1. To make a large profit: batten. Slang clean up. Idioms: make a killing. See money.
2. To derive advantage: benefit, capitalize, gain. See help/harm/harmless.
3. To be an advantage to: advantage, avail, benefit, serve. Archaic boot². Idioms: stand someone in good stead. See help/harm/harmless.

Definition: gain after expenses
Antonyms: loss

Profiteering, a term for making unconscionable or socially destructive profits, especially in times of economic stress and widespread shortages. For example, during the American Revolution speculators profited from fluctuations in paper currency. During the Mexican-American and Civil Wars, profiteers extracted excessive prices from the government for war matériel. During the panic of 1893, J. P. Morgan provided necessary assistance—and made $7.5 million on the deal. Both world wars saw profiteering in munitions, supplies, and commodities. During the 1973–1975 energy crisis, oil corporations reported annual profits ranging up to 800 percent. Governmental and private efforts to control profiteering have encompassed a wide range of techniques, with limited success.

Bibliography

Brandes, Stuart D. Warhogs: A History of War Profits in America. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1997.

The Industrial Reorganization Act, Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Antitrust and Monopoly of the Committee on the Judiciary, 93rd Congress, 1st session.

Profiteering, 65th Congress, 2nd session, Senate Document No.248.

Most commonly, the gross proceeds of a business transaction less the costs of the transaction; i.e., net proceeds. Excess of revenues over expenses for a transaction; sometimes used synonymously with net income for the period. Gain realized from business or investment over and above expenditures.

Accession of good, valuable results, useful consequences, avail, or gain. The benefit, advantage, or pecuniary gain accruing to the owner or occupant of land from its actual use; as in the familiar phrase rents, issues and profits, or in the expression mesne profits.

A financial benefit that is realized when the amount of revenue gained from a business activity exceeds the expenses, costs and taxes needed to sustain the activity. Any profit that is gained goes to the business's owners, who may or may not decide to spend it on the business.  

Calculated as:

 

Investopedia Says:
Profit is the money a business makes after accounting for all the expenses. Regardless of whether the business is a couple of kids running a lemonade stand or a publicly traded multinational company, consistently earning profit is every company's goal.
 
The path toward profitability can be long. For example, online bookseller Amazon.com was founded in 1994 and did not produce its first annual profit until 2003. Many start ups and new businesses fail when the owners run out of capital to sustain the business.

Related Links:
Determine whether your trading approach is only profitable on paper. The Myth Of Profit/Loss Ratios
Learn how to use revenue and expenses, among other factors, to break down and analyze a company. Understanding The Income Statement
This structure can be very effective, but it is also known for its abuse of power. Early Monopolies: Conquest And Corruption
Learn this easy-to-understand technique of analyzing a company's financial statements and reports. Introduction To Fundamental Analysis
Take a deeper look at a company's profitability with the help of profit-margin ratios. The Bottom Line On Margins

Tutor's tip: Another word that sounds like "profit' which is a gain of any kind, is "prophet" which is a person who claims to be able to foretell the future.

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

Quotes:

"Civilization and profits go hand in hand." - Calvin Coolidge

"What is a man if he is not a thief who openly charges as much as he can for the goods he sells?" - Mahatma Gandhi

"In the state of nature profit is the measure of right." - Thomas Hobbes

"Profit and morality are a hard combination to beat." - Hubert H. Humphrey

"Take every gain without showing remorse about missed profits, because an eel may escape sooner than you think." - Lope de Vega

"Profits on the exchange are the treasures of goblins. At one time they may be carbuncle stones, then coals, then diamonds, then flint stones, then morning dew, then tears." - Lope de Vega

See more famous quotes about Profits

The amount by which income exceeds expenditure.

• p. sharing — profit sharing between a professional and a lay person is illegal in most countries because it is considered to be improper for a nonveterinarian to have any authority over the quality and style of the work of a professional person.

• Economics and Economic Theory - profit: net amount earned after deducting costs in business enterprise
• Commerce and Trade - profit: amount of sales revenues left for business after paying cost, overhead, taxes, and operating expenses
• Accounting - profit: revenue earned less expenses incurred

Not to be confused with Prophet.

Look up Profit, profitability, profitable, profitably, or profits in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Profit may refer to:

• Profit (accounting), the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market
• Profit (economics), has two related but distinct meanings: Normal profit and Economic profit
• Profit (real property), a nonpossessory interest in land
• Profit (TV series), a short-lived American television series starring Adrian Pasdar
• The Profit, a 2001 feature film by Peter N. Alexander
• Account of profits, a type of equitable remedy in law (also known as an accounting)
• Profit (magazine), a Canadian business magazine aimed at entrepreneurs
• Profit, United States Virgin Islands

Surname

• Joe Profit (born 1949), former American football player
• Laron Profit (born 1977), professional basketball player
• Richard Profit (born 1974), English mountaineer and adventurer.

See also

• All pages beginning with "Profit"
• All pages with titles containing "Profit"
• Proficiency (disambiguation)
• Pro (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - fordel, fortjeneste
v. intr. - gavne
v. tr. - gavne

idioms:

• profit margin    profitmargen
• profit sharing    udbyttedeling
• profit taking    gevinstrealisering

Nederlands (Dutch)
winst, profijt, nut, voordeel hebben van, verdienen aan

Français (French)
n. - (Comm) bénéfice, profit, (fig) profit, avantage
v. intr. - tirer profit de qch
v. tr. - profiter à

idioms:

• profit margin    marge bénéficiaire
• profit sharing    intéressement des salariés aux bénéfices
• profit taking    prise de bénéfices

Deutsch (German)
n. - Gewinn, Vorteil, Nutzen
v. - profitieren, von Nutzen sein

idioms:

• profit margin    Gewinnspanne
• profit sharing    Gewinnbeteiligung
• profit taking    Gewinnmitnahme

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (οικον., μτφ.) κέρδος, όφελος, ωφέλεια
v. - κερδίζω, (επ)ωφελούμαι

idioms:

• profit margin    (οικον.) περιθώριο κέρδους
• profit sharing    (οικον.) συμμετοχή στα κέρδη (επιχείρησης)
• profit taking    (οικον.) πώληση μετοχής με σκοπό την αποκόμιση των πραγματοποιηθέντων κερδών

Italiano (Italian)
profitto, guadagno, guadagnare

idioms:

• profit margin    margine di profitto
• profit sharing    partecipazione agli utili
• profit taking    presa di beneficio

Português (Portuguese)
n. - lucro (m)
v. - lucrar, aproveitar

idioms:

• profit margin    margem de lucro
• profit sharing    divisão dos lucros
• profit taking    fins lucrativos

Русский (Russian)
прибыль, доход, польза, извлекать пользу, приносить пользу

idioms:

• profit margin    торговая наценка, чистый доход, доля прибыли в добавленной стоимости
• profit sharing    участие в прибыли
• profit taking    получение прибыли

Español (Spanish)
n. - provecho, beneficio, ganancias
v. intr. - sacar provecho, aprovecharse, sacar partido o utilidad
v. tr. - servir a, aprovechar a, ganar

idioms:

• profit margin    margen de beneficio
• profit sharing    participación en los beneficios
• profit taking    realización de beneficios

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - vinst, förtjänst, utbyte, nytta, behållning
v. - dra nytta av, vara till nytta, (för)tjäna på, gagna

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
利润, 利益, 赢利, 有益, 赚钱, 获利, 有益于

idioms:

• profit margin    利润之百分比, 利润率
• profit sharing    分红制
• profit taking    获利完成

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 利潤, 利益, 贏利
v. intr. - 有益, 賺錢, 獲利
v. tr. - 有益於

idioms:

• profit margin    利潤之百分比, 利潤率
• profit sharing    分紅制
• profit taking    獲利完成

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 이익, 수익
v. intr. - 이익을 보다, 소득을 얻다
v. tr. - ~에의 이익이 되다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 収益, 儲け, 利益, 利潤, 利得, 利益率, 得
v. - 利益を得る, 得をする, 利益になる, 役に立つ

idioms:

• profit margin    利潤差額
• profit sharing    利益分配
• profit taking    利食い

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) فائدة, ربح, منفعه (فعل) يحصل على أرباح‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮רווח, תועלת, יתרון, טובה‬
v. intr. - ‮הפיק רווח‬
v. tr. - ‮הצמיח תועלת‬

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