profitable

From Old French profitable, equivalent to profit +‎ -able.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒf.ɪ.tə.bl̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑ.fɪ.tə.bl̩/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: prof‧it‧a‧ble

profitable (comparative more profitable, superlative most profitable)

1. Producing a profit.
   • 1953 April, “Reviving U.S.A. Passenger Traffic”, in Railway Magazine, page 218:

     Profitable operation is being made possible by the widespread introduction of capacious diesel railcars, which for their comfort and speed are very popular with the travelling public.

   • 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27:

     The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing" […] and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.

2. Beneficial, serviceable, of use.
   • c. 1521, John Skelton, Speke Parott:

     I wylbe ferme and ſtabyll
     And to yow ſeruyceabyll
     And also prophytabyll
     Yf ye be agreabyll
     My propyr Beſſe
     To turne a gayne to me

   • 1840 May 5, Thomas Carlyle, “Lecture I. The Hero as Divinity. Odin. Paganism: Scandinavian Mythology.”, in On Heroes, Hero-Worship and The Heroic in History, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1840, →OCLC, page 2:

     Great Men, taken up in any way, are profitable company.

   • 1953, Richmond Lattimore, Aeschylus, “Prometheus Bound”, in Greek Tragedies:

     It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.

• beneficial
• lucrative

• unprofitable

From profiter +‎ -able.

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.fi.tabl/

profitable (plural profitables)

1. profitable

• “profitable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

profiter +‎ -able.

profitable m (oblique and nominative feminine singular profitable)

1. useful; usable; that one can make use of

• → English: profitable
• French: profitable

• profitable on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub