profit

Syllables: prof·itUK/ˈpɹɒfɪt//ˈpɹɑfɪt/

profit noun: total income or cash flow minus expenditures. The money or other benefit a non-governmental organization or individual receives in exchange for products and services sold at an advertised price. Also the ellipsis of profit à prendre.

Noun

profit (countable and uncountable, plural profits)

Total income or cash flow minus expenditures. The money or other benefit a non-governmental organization or individual receives in exchange for products and services sold at an advertised price.
- Let no man anticipate uncertain profits.1750 Oct. 2, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler
- War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives... Of course, it isn't put that crudely in war...1935, Smedley Butler, War Is a Racket, page 1 & 7
(dated, literary) Benefit, positive result obtained.
- Reading such an enlightening book on the subject was of much profit to his studies.
- This I speak for your own profit.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Corinthians vii:35

Verb

profit (third-person singular simple present profits, present participle profiting, simple past and past participle profited)

(transitive) To benefit (somebody), be of use to (somebody).
- The word preached did not profit them.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 4:2
- It is a great means of profiting yourself, to copy diligently those excellent pieces and beautiful designs.1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC
(intransitive) To benefit, gain.
(intransitive) To take advantage of, exploit, use.

Proper noun capitalized: Profit

Profit (plural Profits)

A surname.

Also used as

profit is also the ellipsis of profit à prendre.

profit meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

profit in Hindi

total income or cash flow minus expenditures: लाभ lābh
benefit: लाभ lābh, फ़ायदा fāydā, सूद sūd

profit in Tamil

benefit: இலாபம் ilāpam

profit in Marathi

नफा

profit in Urdu

benefit: فایِدَہ fāyida, فائِدَہ fāida, لابھ lābh, سُود sūd

More languagesFewer languages

profit in Bengali: লাভ labh, সুদ śud, ফায়দা phaẏda
profit in Telugu: లాభము lābhamu
profit in Malayalam: ലാഭം, ലാഭത്തിലേക്ക്
profit in Kannada: ಲಾಭ
profit in Punjabi: ਮੁਨਾਫ਼ਾ, ਮੁਨਾਫਾ
profit in Gujarati: નફો, નફો થાય
profit in Sanskrit: उदय udaya
profit in Nepali: नाफा
profit in Pashto: فايده fāyda, سود sud, نفع nafa'
profit in Arabic: رِبْح ribḥ, مَكْسَب maksab, فَائِدَة fāʔida, نَفْع nafʕ
profit in Malay: untung, faedah, keuntungan
profit in Indonesian: faedah, keuntungan
profit in Thai: กำไร gam-rai
profit in Vietnamese: lợi nhuận, lời
profit in Myanmar: အမြတ် a.mrat, အကျိုးကျေးဇူး a.kyui:kye:ju:

Examples of profit in a sentence

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious.1935, Smedley Butler, War Is a Racket, page 1 & 7:
After the pandemic, MLG lost a lot of its viewership and profits which led it to close.2023 October 13, Daniel Appleford, “Fans support MLG being brought back under Microsoft acquisition”, in Dexerto:
if you dare do yourself a profit and a rightc. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies...

All 40 example sentences with profit

Synonyms of profit

gain

Antonyms

loss

Forms of profit

Noun
plural	profits
alternative abbreviation (obsolete)	ꝓfit
Verb
third-person singular present	profits
present participle	profiting
past participle	profited
past	profited
Proper noun
plural	Profits

Past tense of profit: profited

Plural of profit: profits

Origin of profit

From Middle English profit, from Old French profit (Modern French profit), from Latin prōfectus (“advance, progress, growth, increase, profit”), from proficiō (“to go forward, advance, make progress, be profitable or useful”). Doublet of profect.

Variant of Proffitt.

Words formed from profit

Phrases with profit

3 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with profit

soffit

Questions about profit

What does profit mean?: Profit means total income or cash flow minus expenditures. The money or other benefit a non-governmental organization or individual receives in exchange for products and services sold at an advertised price.
What is profit in Hindi?: Profit in Hindi is लाभ (lābh), फ़ायदा (fāydā), सूद (sūd). See Profit meaning in Hindi.
How do you use profit in a sentence?: It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious.
What part of speech is profit?: Profit can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce profit?: Profit is pronounced /ˈpɹɒfɪt/ (UK).
What is the plural of profit?: The plural of profit is profits.

Words near profit in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: profit (page history and authors); Profit (page history and authors); profit (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); profit (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); profit (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); profit (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); profit (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); profit (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-profit.ogg.

Cite this entry: “profit.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/profit. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.