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Profit vs Expense - What's the difference?

profit | expense |

As nouns the difference between profit and expense

is that profit is profit while expense is a spending or consuming often specifically an act of disbursing or spending funds.

As a verb expense is

to charge a cost against an expense account; to bill something to the company for which one works.

profit

English

(wikipedia profit)

Noun

(en noun)
  • Total income or cash flow minus expenditures. The money or other benefit a non-governmental organization or individual receives in exchange for products and services sold at an advertised price.
  • * Rambler
  • Let no man anticipate uncertain profits .
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits' to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: ' profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.}}
  • (dated, literary) Benefit, positive result obtained.
  • * Bible, 1 Corinthians vii. 35
  • This I speak for your own profit .
  • * Shakespeare
  • if you dare do yourself a profit and a right
  • (legal) In property law, a nonpossessory interest in land whereby a party is entitled to enter the land of another for the purpose of taking the soil or the substance of the soil (coal, oil, minerals, and in some jurisdictions timber and game).
  • Usage notes

    Regarding the income sense, when the difference is negative the term loss is correct. Negative profit does appear in microeconomics. Profit by a government agency is called a surplus.

    Synonyms

    * gain

    Antonyms

    * loss

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To benefit (somebody), be of use to (somebody).
  • * Bible, Hebrews iv. 2
  • The word preached did not profit them.
  • * Dryden
  • It is a great means of profiting yourself, to copy diligently excellent pieces and beautiful designs.
  • To benefit, gain.
  • To take advantage of, exploit, use.
  • Derived terms

    * book profit * for-profit * for fun and profit * nonprofit * not-for-profit * paper profit * profit from * profitable * profitably * profiteer * profit margin * profit sharing * profit taking

    expense

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia expense) (en noun)
  • A spending or consuming. Often specifically an act of disbursing or spending funds.
  • She went to great expense to ensure her children would get the best education.
    Buying the car was a big expense , but will be worth it in the long run.
    We had a training weekend in New York, at the expense of our company.
  • * , Sonnet 44:
  • Husband nature's riches from expense .
  • That which is expended, laid out, or consumed. Sometimes with the notion of loss or damage to those on whom the expense falls.
  • Jones reached the final at the expense of Jones, who couldn´t beat him.
  • (obsolete) Loss.
  • * , Sonnet 30:
  • And moan the expense of many a vanished sight.

    Synonyms

    * (that which is expended) cost, charge, outlay, disbursement, expenditure, payment

    Derived terms

    * expense account

    Verb

  • To charge a cost against an expense account; to bill something to the company for which one works.
  • It should be acceptable to expense a business lunch with a client.

    Derived terms

    * expense magazine, (Military):'' a small magazine containing ammunition for immediate use. - Henry Lee Scot ''Military Dictionary ----