profitable

/ˈprɑfɪɾəbəl/

/ˈprɒfɪtəbəl/

Things that are profitable make money or are beneficial in other ways. Businesses hope to be profitable in the financial sense, but a profitable relationship is one that's good for everyone involved.

Profitable started out as a word to describe anything useful, but it hooked up with finance in the mid-1700s. Profits are measured in money earned beyond expenses, so profitable businesses or transactions make money. A busy restaurant, sold-out concert, and best-selling book are all profitable. People also use this word for situations that are good in ways that don’t involve money. If you learned a lot from something, then it was a profitable experience, even if you didn't make any cash.

Definitions of profitable

1. adjective

   yielding material gain or profit
   “profitable speculation on the stock market”

   synonyms:

   advantageous

   giving an advantage

   productive

   producing or capable of producing (especially abundantly)

   bankable

   guaranteed to bring a profit

   fat, juicy

   lucrative

   gainful, paid, paying

   yielding a fair profit

   economic

   financially rewarding

   lucrative, moneymaking, remunerative

   producing a sizeable profit

   useful, utile

   being of use or service

   antonyms:

   unprofitable

   producing little or no profit or gain

   unproductive

   not producing or capable of producing

   dead, idle

   not yielding a return

   lean

   not profitable or prosperous

   marginal

   producing at a rate that barely covers production costs

   unremunerative

   not yielding profit or recompense

   unsuccessful

   not successful; having failed or having an unfavorable outcome

   useless

   having no beneficial use or incapable of functioning usefully