Library / English Dictionary

EARNINGS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The excess of revenues over outlays in a given period of time (including depreciation and other non-cash expenses)

Synonyms:

earnings; lucre; net; net income; net profit; profit; profits

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("earnings" is a kind of...):

income (the financial gain (earned or unearned) accruing over a given period of time)

Meronyms (parts of "earnings"):

part; percentage; portion; share (assets belonging to or due to or contributed by an individual person or group)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "earnings"):

earning per share (the portion of a company's profit allocated to each outstanding share of common stock)

windfall profit (profit that occurs unexpectedly as a consequence of some event not controlled by those who profit from it)

cleanup; killing (a very large profit)

fast buck; quick buck (quick or easy earnings)

filthy lucre (shameful profit)

gross profit; gross profit margin; margin ((finance) the net sales minus the cost of goods and services sold)

markup (the amount added to the cost to determine the asking price)

accumulation ((finance) profits that are not paid out as dividends but are added to the capital base of the corporation)

dividend (that part of the earnings of a corporation that is distributed to its shareholders; usually paid quarterly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Something that remunerates

Example:

they saved a quarter of all their earnings

Synonyms:

earnings; pay; remuneration; salary; wage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("earnings" is a kind of...):

regular payment (a payment made at regular times)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "earnings"):

take-home pay (what is left of your pay after deductions for taxes and dues and insurance etc)

strike pay (money paid to strikers from union funds)

sick pay (wages paid to an employee who is on sick leave)

pay envelope; pay packet (wages enclosed in an envelope for distribution to the wage earner)

minimum wage (the lowest wage that an employer is allowed to pay; determined by contract or by law)

merit pay (extra pay awarded to an employee on the basis of merit (especially to school teachers))

living wage (a wage sufficient for a worker and family to subsist comfortably)

half-pay (reduced wage paid to someone who is not working full time)

found (food and lodging provided in addition to money)

double time (a doubled wage (for working overtime))

combat pay (extra pay for soldiers engaged in active combat)

Holonyms ("earnings" is a part of...):

payroll; paysheet (a list of employees and their salaries)

Derivation:

earn (acquire or deserve by one's efforts or actions)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I'd never get beyond a clerkship, and how could you and I be happy on the paltry earnings of a clerk?

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

She thought it would do her no harm, for she sincerely meant to write nothing of which she would be ashamed, and quieted all pricks of conscience by anticipations of the happy minute when she should show her earnings and laugh over her well-kept secret.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)