I. prof ‧ it 1 S1 W1 /ˈprɒfət, ˈprɒfɪt $ ˈprɑː-/ BrE AmE noun
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ profit , ↑ profitability , ↑ profiteering , ↑ profiteer ; verb : ↑ profit , ↑ profiteer ; adverb : ↑ profitably , ↑ profitlessly ; adjective : ↑ profitable ≠ ↑ unprofitable , ↑ profitless ]
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: Latin profectus , past participle of proficere ; ⇨ ↑ proficient ]
1 . [uncountable and countable] money that you gain by selling things or doing business, after your costs have been paid OPP loss ⇨ revenue :
The shop’s daily profit is usually around $500.
She sold the business and bought a farm with the profits.
They sold their house at a healthy profit.
2 . [uncountable] formal an advantage that you gain from doing something:
There’s no profit in letting meetings drag on.
⇨ ↑ non-profit
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ adjectives
▪ a big/huge profit
Drug companies make huge profits.
▪ a quick profit (=happening quickly)
They were only interested in a quick profit.
▪ a good profit
There is a good profit to be made in selling cars.
▪ a substantial profit
The agent then sells the land for a substantial profit to someone else.
▪ a healthy/handsome/tidy profit (=big)
By the second year, the restaurant began to make a healthy profit.
▪ a small/modest profit
The business managed to produce a small profit last year.
▪ net profit (=after tax and costs are paid)
The company made a net profit of $10.5 million.
▪ gross profit ( also pre-tax profit ) (=before tax and costs are paid)
The hotel group made a gross profit of £51.9 million in 2008.
▪ trading/operating profit (=profit relating to a company’s normal activities)
Both turnover and operating profits were lower.
■ verbs
▪ make a profit
We are in business to make a profit.
▪ turn/earn a profit (=make a profit)
Without the liquor sales, the store could not turn a profit.
▪ show a profit (=make a profit)
The business will not show a profit this year.
▪ report/post a profit (=officially announce a profit)
The company reported net profits of $3.6 million for fiscal year 2006.
▪ generate profit(s)
We have the capacity to generate more profit.
▪ boost profits (=make them increase)
They aim to boost profits by slashing costs.
▪ maximize profits (=make them as big as possible)
Every firm tries to maximize its profits.
▪ profits are up/down
Pre-tax profits were up 21.5%.
▪ profits rise/increase/grow
Half of the firms surveyed expected profits to rise.
▪ profits soar/leap (=increase by a large amount)
▪ profits fall
The group saw profits fall from £24m to £17.8m.
▪ profits slump/plunge (=fall by a large amount)
The group’s pre-tax profits slumped to £25.5m.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ profit money that you gain by selling things or doing business, after your costs have been paid:
Our profits are down this year.
|
The big oil companies have made enormous profits following the rise in oil prices.
▪ earnings the profit that a company makes:
The company said it expected fourth-quarter earnings to be lower than last year’s results.
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Pre-tax earnings have grown from $6.3 million to $9.4 million.
▪ return the profit that you get from an investment:
You should get a good return on your investment.
|
We didn’t get much of a return on our money.
|
They’re promising high returns on investments of over $100,000.
▪ turnover the amount of business done during a particular period:
The illicit drugs industry has an annual turnover of some £200 bn.
▪ takings the money that a business, shop etc gets from selling its goods in a day, week, month etc:
He counted the night’s takings.
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This week’s takings are up on last week’s.
▪ interest money paid to you by a bank or other financial institution when you keep money in an account there:
They are offering a high rate of interest on deposits of over £3000.
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The money is still earning interest in your account.
▪ dividend a part of a company’s profit that is divided among the people who have shares in the company:
Shareholders will receive a dividend of 10p for each share.
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The company said it will pay shareholders a final dividend of 700 cents a share.
II. profit 2 BrE AmE verb [intransitive and transitive]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ profit , ↑ profitability , ↑ profiteering , ↑ profiteer ; verb : ↑ profit , ↑ profiteer ; adverb : ↑ profitably , ↑ profitlessly ; adjective : ↑ profitable ≠ ↑ unprofitable , ↑ profitless ]
1 . formal to be useful or helpful to someone
profit somebody to do something
It might profit you to learn about the company before your interview.
profit by/from
There are lessons in these stories that all children can profit by.
2 . to get money from doing something
profit by/from
Some industries, such as shipbuilding, clearly profited from the war.