Finance Meaning
/fɪˈnæns/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe management of money and other assets.
nounThe science of management of money and other assets.
Sentence Examples
Those officials don't understand finance at all.
Modern finance is becoming increasingly complicated and sophisticated.
He took a job to finance his stay in Germany.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The young couple had to take out a bank loan to ____ their new business.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The company is looking for new ways to ____ its expansion projects into the international market.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English finaunce, from Anglo-Norman, Middle French finance, from finer (“to pay ransom”) (whence also English fine (“to pay a penalty”)), from fin (“end”), from Latin fīnis. Original English sense that appeared c. 1400 was “ending”. The sense of “ending or satisfying a debt” originated from French influence: in the sense of “ransom” appeared in the mid 15th century, in the sense of “taxation” appeared in the late 15th century. In the sense of “manage money” first recorded c. 1770.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"And statesmen as well ought to know these things; for a state is often as much in want of money and of such devices for obtaining it as a household, or even more so; hence some public men devote themselves entirely to finance."
— 4th century BCE, Aristotle, Politics, volume book I, part XI; republished as John Alexander Smith, William David Ross, transl., The works of Aristotle translated into English, volume 10, 1908:
"Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend."
— 2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71:
"Therefore, when assets are examined together with other problems, such as one-sided contracts or delays in payment, the argument for financing construction projects is substantially weakened."
— 1995, A. D. F. Price, Financing International Projects, page 3:
"This is not a historical novel yet it is in a sense historical and contained within this book is a true story of how America was financed."
— 2011, Thomas W. Dombroski, How America Was Financed, page xi:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The young couple had to take out a bank loan to ____ their new business.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The company is looking for new ways to ____ its expansion projects into the international market.