lucrative
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of lucrative
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English lucratif, from Middle French, from Latin lucrātīvus “gainful,” from lucrāt(us) “profited” (past participle of lucrārī “to make a profit, gain by economy”; see lucre) + -īvus -ive
Explanation
Use lucrative to refer to a business or investment that makes money. While your parents might want you to pursue a lucrative career, you're committed to your plan of becoming a professional mime. This adjective is from the Latin word lucrum, meaning "profit." In Latin, lucrum also meant "greed," a negative sense preserved in the English phrase filthy lucre, or "shameful profit or gain." But the word lucrative doesn't carry a similar sense of shame — if your lawn-mowing job proves lucrative over the summer, you might be able to buy yourself a used car.
Vocabulary lists containing lucrative
Grade 10, List 2
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Hidden Figures
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Fast Food Nation
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Records that weren’t lucrative or released may have been cut from the labels’ catalog, excluded from the digitization process or fallen to the back of the queue for uploading.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2026
Quarter after quarter of late, Nvidia has been locked out of that lucrative market.
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2026
For today’s students, fitness has become not just a virtue but a path to a lucrative influencing career.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2026
She also said locking away your money for longer, with a fixed-term deal, is usually more lucrative.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
Historian John Grenier reports that it could be quite lucrative to be a scalp hunter.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
