INDEX:
1. to get money for your work
2. to earn an amount of money after tax etc has been taken away
3. to earn enough money to pay for the things that you need
4. to earn a lot of money
5. words for describing a job that you earn a lot from
6. not earning much money
7. pay that is too low
8. the money that you earn
9. money that you earn in addition to your usual pay
10. someone who earns money
11. not earn anything for work that you do
RELATED WORDS
see also
↑ PAY
↑ WORK
↑ JOB
↑ SPEND MONEY OR TIME
↑ MONEY
↑ PROFIT
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1. to get money for your work
▷ earn /ɜːʳn/ [transitive verb]
to be paid a particular amount of money for your work, especially over a period of time - earn is more formal than make or get :
▪ At the peak of his career, Rogers was earning more than seven million dollars a year.
▪ It’s not uncommon nowadays for women to earn more than their husbands.
earn £15,000 per year/$15 an hour etc
▪ Alan earns $30,000 a year.
▷ make /meɪk/ [transitive verb]
to be paid a particular amount of money for your work, especially a lot of money :
▪ Ella makes a lot of money.
▪ How much to you think he makes?
make $500 a week/£25,000 per year etc
▪ Some models make millions of dollars a year.
▷ get /get/ [transitive verb] informal
to earn a particular amount of money every hour, week etc :
get £10 per hour/$350 dollars a week etc
▪ My sister gets $22 an hour at her new job.
▪ How much are you getting a week?
get $25/£15 etc for doing something
▪ I got £5 for washing Nick’s car.
▷ be paid/get paid /biː ˈpeɪd, get ˈpeɪd/ [verb phrase]
to earn money when you work for an employer and not for yourself :
be paid £50/$200 etc
▪ City maintenance workers are paid around $250 a week.
▪ We get paid every two weeks.
▷ be on /biː ˈɒn/ [verb phrase] British informal
to earn a particular amount of money each year :
▪ Claire’s on a very good salary.
▪ In January, I’ll be on £23,350.
▪ How much were you on in your last job?
▷ gross /grəʊs/ [transitive verb] especially American
to earn a particular amount of money each year, before tax has been taken away - use this especially to talk about companies or businesses making money :
▪ Jack grosses $58,000 a year, but he has to pay taxes and health insurance out of that.
▪ Walmax, a California superstore, grosses more than eight million dollars annually.
gross over/more than
▪ If you gross over $100,000, you should consult a good tax accountant.
2. to earn an amount of money after tax etc has been taken away
▷ take home /ˌteɪk ˈhəʊm/ [verb phrase]
to earn a certain amount of money, after tax etc has been taken away from your pay :
▪ Lidia takes home only about $150 a week.
▪ Did you know that plumbers can take home as much as $40,000 a year?
take-home pay /ˈteɪk həʊm ˌpeɪ/ [noun phrase]
the pay remaining after tax has been taken away :
▪ My dad’s take-home pay was around £50 a week when he first started out.
▷ net /net/ [transitive verb]
to earn a particular amount of money as a profit after tax has been paid - use this especially to talk about companies or businesses making money :
▪ For the first three months of 1990, Starcorp netted $547 million.
▪ Donna got a raise in February, but she’s still only netting $19,000 a year.
▷ clear /klɪəʳ/ [transitive verb]
to earn a particular amount of money after tax etc has been taken away, especially in a job where you work for yourself :
▪ Sandra cleared £50,000 last year.
▪ A good lawyer can clear $250,000 a year easily.
3. to earn enough money to pay for the things that you need
▷ earn/make a living /ˌɜːʳn, ˌmeɪk ə ˈlɪvɪŋ/ [verb phrase]
to earn enough money to pay for the things that you or your family need :
earn/make a living by doing something
▪ As an engineer, you can earn a living anywhere in the world.
▪ It’s difficult to make a living as a writer.
▪ Nordstrom earned his living by teaching violin.
earn a good/decent living
earn more than enough
▪ A programmer earns a pretty decent living.
▷ support yourself/your family /səˌpɔːʳt jɔːʳˈself, jɔːʳ ˈfæm ə li/ [verb phrase]
to pay for the things that you or your family need out of the money that you earn, especially when you are the only person in the family who is earning money :
▪ After his father died, Peter had to quit school and support the family.
▪ Hank supported himself for years by doing construction work.
▪ I have no idea how he’s supporting himself.
▷ earn your keep /ˌɜːʳn jɔːʳ ˈkiːp/ [verb phrase]
to earn enough money to pay for your food and other needs, especially when someone has been supporting you until now :
▪ It’s time you got a job and started earning your keep.
4. to earn a lot of money
▷ make a fortune also make a bomb British /ˌmeɪk ə ˈfɔːʳtʃ ə n, ˌmeɪk ə ˈbɒmǁ-ˈbɑːm/ [verb phrase]
to earn a very large amount of money :
▪ The person who invented Post-It notes must have made a fortune.
make a fortune (by) doing something
▪ Roger makes a fortune buying and selling real estate.
make your fortune
become rich
▪ Jules made his fortune in the liquor business.
▷ earn/make good money /ˌɜːʳn, ˌmeɪk gʊd ˈmʌni/ [verb phrase]
to be paid a lot of money by the person or company you work for, or a lot of money from your own business :
▪ Milos earns good money as a foreman.
▪ Dan is making good money now, but for years we really struggled.
▷ highly-paid/well-paid /ˌhaɪli ˈpeɪd◂, ˌwel ˈpeɪd◂/ [adjective]
earning a lot of money :
▪ Most engineers are very well-paid.
▪ Dr. Singh is one of the most highly-paid surgeons in Britain.
▷ rake it in /ˈreɪk ɪt ɪn/ [verb phrase] informal
to earn a lot of money quickly :
▪ Athletes rake it in these days.
somebody must be raking it in
▪ What a car! Jasper must be raking it in.
▷ be overpaid /ˌəʊvəʳˈpeɪd/ [verb phrase]
to be paid more money for your work than you should be paid :
▪ In my opinion, lawyers are overpaid and underworked.
5. words for describing a job that you earn a lot from
▷ well-paid/highly paid /ˌwel ˈpeɪd◂, ˌhaɪli ˈpeɪd◂/ [adjective]
▪ There are not enough women in well-paid, responsible jobs.
▷ pay well /ˌpeɪ ˈwel/ [verb phrase]
if work or a job pays well, the workers are paid a lot of money for doing it :
▪ Boring jobs often pay well.
▪ Modelling usually pays very well but the work is not very regular.
▷ lucrative /ˈluːkrətɪv/ [adjective]
work or a particular type of business that is lucrative earns a lot of money for the people who do it :
▪ Transferred from Barcelona to Naples, Maradona signed a highly lucrative three-year contract.
▪ An increase in consumer demand has made sports shoe retailing a lucrative business.
6. not earning much money
▷ low-paid /ˌləʊ ˈpeɪd◂/ [adjective usually before noun]
low-paid workers do not earn much money for their work. Low-paid work is work that people do not get paid much money for :
▪ a low-paid mechanic
low-paid job
▪ The jobs centre seems to list only low-paid temporary jobs.
▷ be badly-paid /biː ˌbædli ˈpeɪd/ [verb phrase]
if someone is badly paid, they do not earn much money for their work - use this when you think someone should earn much more money :
▪ A lot of people think that nurses are badly-paid.
▷ get peanuts/work for peanuts /get ˈpiːnʌts, ˌwɜːʳk fəʳ ˈpiːnʌts/ [verb phrase] informal
to be paid very little money :
▪ Jobs are so hard to find that people are willing to work for peanuts.
▷ not pay well /nɒt ˈpeɪ wel/ [verb phrase]
if work or a job does not pay well, the people who do it do not receive much money, especially considering the amount of work they have to do, the amount of knowledge they need to have etc :
▪ It used to be accepted that teaching didn’t pay very well, but things have changed a lot.
▷ slave labour British /slave labor American /ˌsleɪv ˈleɪbəʳ/ [uncountable noun]
if you say that what someone is paid is slave labour, you mean that they are paid very little money even though they have to work extremely hard, and this is unfair :
▪ £50 a week? That’s slave labour!
▪ Working for them is slave labor - they only pay five bucks an hour.
7. pay that is too low
▷ low pay /ˌləʊ ˈpeɪ/ [uncountable noun]
▪ Low pay is one of the disadvantages of working in publishing.
▪ These jobs are unattractive because of low pay and inadequate training.
▷ a pittance /ə ˈpɪt ə ns/ [singular noun]
an unfairly small amount of money paid to someone for their work :
▪ In the 19th century, children worked long hours in factories for a pittance.
▪ Compared to what some people earn, my salary is a pittance.
▷ peanuts /ˈpiːnʌts/ [plural noun] informal
an unfairly small amount of money paid to someone for their work :
▪ ‘It’s not fair,’ she said. ‘He pays me peanuts, and he expects me to work late as well.’
8. the money that you earn
▷ pay /peɪ/ [uncountable noun]
the money that you earn by working :
▪ ‘What’s the pay?’ ‘About $10 an hour.’
▪ The worst thing about being a nurse is the low pay.
sick pay
pay that you get when you are ill and cannot work
▪ Joe’s been receiving sick pay since the accident.
▷ salary /ˈsæləri/ [countable noun]
the money that someone is paid every month by their employer, especially someone who is in a profession, such as a teacher or a manager :
a salary of £100,000/$10,000 etc
▪ The university provides a salary of $3,000 a month plus benefits.
▪ Johansen reportedly earns an annual salary of $4 million.
be on a salary
be earning a salary
▪ I joined the company in 1985, on a salary of $22,000 a year.
a good/high salary
▪ Our daughter makes a good salary, but she really works for it.
▷ wage also wages /weɪdʒ, ˈweɪdʒə̇z/ []
the money that someone is paid every week by their employer, especially someone who works in a factory, shop etc :
▪ Elvina earns an hourly wage of $11.
▪ Without qualifications it’s nearly impossible to get a job with decent wages.
minimum wage
the lowest amount of money that can legally be paid per hour to a worker
▪ Most of the new jobs in the area only pay the minimum wage.
▷ income /ˈɪŋkʌm, ˈɪn-/ [countable/uncountable noun]
all the money that you receive regularly, for work or for any other reason :
▪ Braund’s annual income is just over $40,000.
▪ The amount of tax you have to pay depends on your income.
be on a low income
receive very little money
▪ Families on low incomes are eligible for state benefits.
income from
▪ Richard has a comfortable income from his salary and his investments.
▷ earnings /ˈɜːʳnɪŋz/ [plural noun]
the total amount of money you earn from any work you do :
▪ Most single mothers spend a large part of their earnings on childcare.
▪ The average worker’s earnings have not kept up with inflation.
▷ fee /fiː/ [countable noun]
money paid to a professional person such as a doctor or lawyer for a piece of work :
▪ Dr Allison charges a fee of $90 for a consultation.
▪ Last year IBM paid $12 million in legal fees to a single law firm.
▪ The fee for the standard structural survey is £175.
9. money that you earn in addition to your usual pay
▷ overtime /ˈəʊvəʳtaɪm/ [uncountable noun]
money that is paid to someone for additional hours that they have worked :
▪ Last week Alex earned $300, including ten hours of overtime.
▪ Teachers never get paid overtime.
▷ bonus /ˈbəʊnəs/ [countable noun]
money added to someone’s pay, especially as a reward for good work :
▪ Liz earned a £1000 bonus for being the best salesperson of the year.
▪ The management offered a large bonus to those workers who stayed to the end of the contract.
▷ commission /kəˈmɪʃ ə n/ [uncountable noun]
money earned by someone whose job is to sell things, based on the value of what they sell :
▪ His basic salary is low, but he gets 20% commission on everything he sells.
be on commission
receive commission every time you sell something
▪ Most insurance agents are on commission, and some earn a lot of money.
▷ tip /tɪp/ [countable noun]
a small amount of money in addition to the ordinary payment, which you give to someone such as a waiter or taxi-driver :
▪ The boy carried my suitcases up to my room and then stood waiting for a tip.
▪ We finished our lunch and left a tip on the table for the waiter.
tip [transitive verb]
give someone a ti :
▪ She tipped the taxi-driver.
▷ fringe benefits /ˌfrɪndʒ ˈbenə̇fɪts/ [plural noun]
the additional things such as holiday pay, free food, or free health insurance, which a worker receives in addition to their pay :
▪ The salary isn’t very high, but fringe benefits include free health insurance and a company car.
▷ perk /pɜːʳk/ [countable noun]
something valuable or enjoyable that you get from your work apart from pay, especially something you get unofficially :
▪ One of the perks of working for a fashion designer is that you get to wear lots of nice clothes.
▪ It’s not always fun being an air hostess, but the perks are good.
▪ The professors regard foreign travel as a perk, and they go to all the international conferences.
10. someone who earns money
▷ the breadwinner /ðə ˈbredwɪnəʳ/ [singular noun]
the person in a family who earns most of the money that the family needs :
▪ Many people still expect the man to be the breadwinner.
▷ wage-earner /ˈweɪdʒ ˌɜːʳnəʳ/ [countable noun]
someone who has a job and earns wages :
▪ Jim is the family’s main wage earner.
▪ Families without wage-earners must seek relief from government social security programs.
11. not earn anything for work that you do
▷ unpaid /ˌʌnˈpeɪd◂/ [adjective]
an unpaid worker does not get paid for the work that he or she does; unpaid work is work that you do but do not get paid for :
▪ Amir worked as an unpaid informant for the internal security service
▪ Coburn works 20 to 25 unpaid hours a week for the organization.
▷ voluntary also volunteer American /ˈvɒlənt ə riǁˈvɑːlənteri, ˌvɒlənˈtɪəʳ‖ˌvɑː-/ [adjective]
voluntary work is done by people who want to do it, without expecting to be paid for it :
▪ Since retiring Martha has been doing voluntary work for the Red Cross.
voluntary worker/helper etc
▪ Most charities depend on the services of volunteer workers.