lucrative

/ˈlukrədɪv/

/ˈlukrɪtɪv/

Other forms: lucratively

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.

Definitions of lucrative

1. adjective

   producing a sizeable profit
   synonyms: moneymaking, remunerative

   profitable

   yielding material gain or profit