Income Meaning
/ˈɪnˌkʌm/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounMoney one earns by working or by capitalising on the work of others.
nounMoney coming in to a fund, account, or policy.
Sentence Examples
Your income is about twice as large as mine.
Your income is about twice as large as mine is.
Who will be the main beneficiary of the cuts in income tax?
CEFR Practice Quiz
After her promotion at work, her monthly ____ increased from $3000 to $5000.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Lowering the high tax rate on middle-class ____ was one of the major goals of the new government.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English income, perhaps continuing (in altered form) Old English incyme (“an in-coming, entrance”), equivalent to in- + come. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Íenkúumen (“income”), West Frisian ynkommen (“income”), Dutch inkomen, inkomst (“income, earnings, gainings”), German Low German Inkumst (“income”), German Einkommen, Einkunft (“income, earnings, competence”), Danish indkomst (“income”), Swedish inkomst (“income”), Icelandic innkváma (“income”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The struggle with ways and means had recommenced, more difficult now a hundredfold than it had been before, because of their increasing needs. Their income disappeared as a little rivulet that is swallowed by the thirsty ground."
— 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
"In 1970 the richest 1 percent made 9 percent of the nation’s income; now that top slice makes closer to 25 percent."
— 2010 December 4, Evan Thomas, “Why It’s Time to Worry”, in Newsweek, retrieved 16 Jun 2013:
"It is the starving of the public sector which has been pivotal in America no longer being the land of opportunity – with a child's life prospects more dependent on the income and education of its parents than in other advanced countries."
— 2013 June 7, Joseph Stiglitz, “Globalisation is about taxes too”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 19:
"more abundant incomes of light and strength from God"
— 1667, George Rust, A Funeral Sermon, preached at the obsequies of […] Jeremy Lord Bishop of Down:
"Pain payes the income of ech precious thing,"
— 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After her promotion at work, her monthly ____ increased from $3000 to $5000.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Lowering the high tax rate on middle-class ____ was one of the major goals of the new government.