lucrative

adjective

lu·​cra·​tive ˈlü-krə-tiv 

: producing wealth : profitable

lucratively adverb

lucrativeness noun

Did you know?

Paying, gainful, remunerative, and lucrative are all used to describe ways to bring home the bacon, but each term suggests a different amount of bacon being brought in. Paying is the word for jobs that yield the smallest potatoes—a paying job should provide satisfactory compensation, but you're not going to get rich by it. Gainful employment might offer a bit more cash, and gainful certainly suggests that an individual is motivated by a desire for gain. Remunerative implies that a job provides more than the usual rewards, but a lucrative position is really the one you want—that's the kind that goes beyond your initial hopes or expectations to really bring in the lucre (both lucrative and lucre come from the Latin noun lucrum, meaning "gain" or "profit").

Synonyms

• economic
• fat
• gainful
• juicy
• money-spinning [chiefly British]
• moneymaking
• paying
• profitable
• remunerative

Examples of lucrative in a Sentence

Their success has given Gladwell an active, and extremely lucrative, second career as a public speaker. Much in demand, he is paid in the neighborhood of $40,000 per lecture. —Rachel Donadio, New York Times Book Review, 5 Feb. 2006

Clubs take care of their star and other best players first, paying them lucrative salaries. By the time they get to the bottom half of the roster, they would not have enough money left to pay veterans worthwhile salaries … —Murray Chass, New York Times, 16 Aug. 1994

Since the health care industry is lucrative and largely insulated from the usual disciplines of the marketplace, it has been able to absorb an ever-growing fraction of the gross domestic product. —Marcia Angell, New England Journal of Medicine, 17 June 1993

The learned profession of the law was certainly not behind any other learned profession in its Bacchanalian propensities; neither was Mr. Stryver, already fast shouldering his way to a large and lucrative practice, behind his compeers in this particular, any more than in the drier parts of the legal race. —Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859

The business has proved to be highly lucrative.

the new manager's mission was to turn the failing store into a lucrative operation

Recent Examples on the Web

Until recently, Jose Uribe was an obscure New Jersey businessman who had been caught up in what prosecutors say was a sprawling and lucrative bribery scheme involving Senator Robert Menendez and others. —Tracey Tully, New York Times, 7 June 2024

Even during the height of the Vietnam War, the CMA could count on Uncle Sam to be a powerful and lucrative promotional partner. —Joseph M. Thompson / Made By History, TIME, 6 June 2024

Brown was seeking a contract extension with more annual money after Steve Kerr ($17.5 million), Gregg Popovich ($16 million), Monty Williams ($13 million) and Mike Budenholzer ($10 million) signed lucrative new deals over the past year. —Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 1 June 2024

Members have booked commercials for brands including McDonald's and Toyota, and many have lucrative social media endorsements. —Jessica Sager, Peoplemag, 30 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English lucratif, from Middle French, from Latin lucrativus, from lucratus, past participle of lucrari to gain, from lucrum

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

lucrative

adjective

lu·​cra·​tive ˈlü-krət-iv 

: producing wealth : profitable

lucratively adverb

lucrativeness noun

Legal Definition

lucrative

adjective

lu·​cra·​tive ˈlü-krə-tiv 

1

: producing wealth or profit

2

: acquired, received, or had without burdensome conditions or giving of consideration

lucratively adverb

lucrativeness noun