profitable

CEFRB1

/ˈpɹɒf.ɪ.tə.bl̩/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
adjective
Making more money than it costs.
02
adjective
Extra detail
Beneficial, serviceable, of use.

Examples

Money lending is a profitable business in this country.
What you've done is profitable only to the enemy.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 3
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5
Synonyms: 2

Also pronounced

/ˈpɹɑ.fɪ.ɾə.bl̩/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meaning

Producing a profit.

More examples

In context

Profitable operation is being made possible by the widespread introduction of capacious diesel railcars, which for their comfort and speed are very popular with the travelling public.
Great Men, taken up in any way, are profitable company.
It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

After a year of strong sales, the new division became quite blank for the parent company.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

Profitable operation is being made possible by the widespread introduction of capacious diesel railcars, which for their comfort and speed are very popular with the travelling public.
1953 April, “Reviving U.S.A. Passenger Traffic”, in Railway Magazine, page 218
The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing"[…]and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.
2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27
California state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson told The Wall Street Journal last month when the legislation passed that “one-fourth of California’s publicly traded companies still do not have a single woman on their board, despite numerous independent studies that show companies with women on their board are more profitable and productive.”
2018 September 30, Julia Carpenter and Jackie Wattles, “California has a new law: No more all-male boards”, in CNN Business
I wylbe ferme and ſtabyll And to yow ſeruyceabyll And also prophytabyll Yf ye be agreabyll My propyr Beſſe To turne a gayne to me
c. 1521, John Skelton, Speke Parott
Great Men, taken up in any way, are profitable company.
1840 May 5, Thomas Carlyle, “Lecture I. The Hero as Divinity. Odin. Paganism: Scandinavian Mythology.”, in On Heroes, Hero-Worship and The Heroic in History, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1840, →OCLC, page 2

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Origin

adjective

From Old French profitable, equivalent to profit + -able.

Deep Dive

adjective

More examples

Related

Quick test

After a year of strong sales, the new division became quite blank— for the parent company.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

After a year of strong sales, the new division became quite blank for the parent company.