Definition

1: producing wealth
2: profitable

Did You Know?

Paying, gainful, remunerative, and lucrative share the meaning of bringing in a return of money, but each term casts a different light on how much green you take in. Paying is the word for jobs that yield the smallest potatoes—your first paying job probably provided satisfactory compensation, but you weren’t 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 the one you want—those are the kind that goes beyond your initial hopes or expectations.

Examples

The author parlayed the success of her books into a lucrative second career as a public speaker.

“Over time, [Halloween] evolved into lucrative months-long festivals.… Typically, Halloween events take place after traditional park hours and require a separate ticket purchase. So the parks are making money from both the guests that visit during the day and those that arrive when the sun goes down.”