income

[in-kuhm]

noun

1. revenue received for goods or services, or from other sources, as rents or investments.

   For years, her only source of income was the small number of stocks her father left her.

2. the money, or amount of money, received from one’s employment.

   a household with three incomes;

   a healthcare worker with an income that hasn’t increased in five years.

   Synonyms: earnings, wages, salary, return, gains, annuity, interest
   Antonyms: expenditure, outgo

3. something that comes in as an addition or increase, especially by chance.

4. Archaic.,  a coming in.

income

/ ˈɪnkəm, ˈɪnkʌm /

noun

1. the amount of monetary or other returns, either earned or unearned, accruing over a given period of time

2. receipts; revenue

3. rare,  an inflow or influx

income

1. The amount of money received during a period of time in exchange for labor or services, from the sale of goods or property, or as a profit from financial investments.

Other Word Forms

• incomeless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of income¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English: literally, “that which has come in,” noun use of incomen (past participle of incomen “to come in”), Old English incuman; in, come

Word History and Origins

Origin of income¹

C13 (in the sense: arrival, entrance): from Old English incumen a coming in

Example Sentences

“They’re consistently facing, kind of the lack of predictability of their work and therefore their income, so for a lot of people, that also affects where they can live.”

Read more on Salon

The flat price caused superior returns — value flowed from stock appreciation into dividend income and share accumulation.

Read more on MarketWatch

At the same time, premiums received from selling calls generate income many investors crave—and can cushion some losses in a downturn.

Read more on Barron's

For decades, Americans with low to moderate incomes largely sat on the sidelines as higher earners multiplied their wealth in a series of bull markets dating back to 1982.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Ms. Denning, who made a living by showing members of the public how to have respectful encounters with spinner dolphins, lost 90% of her income.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• cash 
• compensation 
• earnings 
• interest 
• livelihood 
• pay 
• proceeds 
• profit 
• revenue 
• royalty 
• salary 
• wage