profit
n. C / Un. the money a person or business makes after paying all their costs. You calculate it by taking the total money earned and subtracting the money spent.
n. the financial gain representing the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent in buying, operating, or producing something.
The shop made a small profit this month.
After paying for the ingredients and the staff, the restaurant owner was left with a healthy profit.
The corporation reported a significant increase in net profit, attributed largely to aggressive cost-cutting measures and a surge in international demand for their latest software suite.
From Middle English profit, from Old French profit (Modern French profit), from Latin prōfectus (“advance, progress, growth, increase, profit”), from proficiō (“to go forward, advance, make progress, be profitable or useful”). Doublet of profect.
Uncountable when referring to the general concept of financial gain; countable when referring to specific sums or periods of gain.
The company made many profitsThe company made a large profitIn business contexts, 'profit' is usually treated as uncountable or singular to describe the total gain; 'profits' (plural) is specifically for multiple accounting periods or diverse sources.