What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Profit vs Lose - What's the difference?

profit | lose |

As a noun profit

is profit.

As a verb lose is

.

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

    lose

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) losen, from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To cause (something) to cease to be in one's possession or capability due to unfortunate or unknown circumstances, events or reasons.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=19 citation , passage=Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost , by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=April 15, author=Saj Chowdhury, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Norwich 2-1 Nott'm Forest , passage=Forest, who lost striker Kris Boyd to injury seconds before half-time, produced little after the break, with a Tyson sliced shot from 12 yards their only opportunity of note.}}
  • To wander from; to miss, so as not to be able to find; to go astray from.
  • I lost my way in the forest.
  • * Shakespeare
  • He hath lost his fellows.
  • To have (an organ) removed from one's body, especially by accident.
  • To fail to win (a game, competition, trial, etc).
  • * Dryden
  • I fought the battle bravely which I lost , / And lost it but to Macedonians.
  • To shed (weight).
  • To experience the death of (someone to whom one has an attachment, such as a relative or friend).
  • To be unable to follow or trace (somebody or something) any longer.
  • To cause (somebody) to be unable to follow or trace one any longer.
  • (informal) To shed, remove, discard, or eliminate.
  • Of a clock, to run slower than expected.
  • To cause (someone) the loss of something; to deprive of.
  • * Baxter
  • O false heart! thou hadst almost betrayed me to eternal flames, and lost me this glory.
  • * 2002 , , The Great Nation , Penguin 2003, p. 556:
  • This lost Catholicism any semblance of a claim to special status, and also highlighted the gains which other religious formations had derived from the Revolution.
  • To fail to catch with the mind or senses; to miss.
  • I lost a part of what he said.
  • (archaic) To cause to part with; to deprive of.
  • * Sir W. Temple
  • How should you go about to lose him a wife he loves with so much passion?
    Usage notes
    * Do not confuse lose with loose .
    Synonyms
    * (sense, cause to cease to be in one's possession) leave behind, mislay * * drop, shed * * * ditch, drop, dump, get rid of, jettison * * (last)
    Antonyms
    * (sense, cause to cease to be in one's possession) come across, discover, find, gain, acquire, procure, get, pick up, snag * win * gain, put on * * find * pick up * (fail to be the winner) come first, win
    Derived terms
    * lose heart * lose it * lose one's cool * lose one's head * lose one's life * lose one's lunch * lose one's marbles * lose one's mind * lose one's patience * lose one's rag * lose one's temper * lose one's way * lose out * lose patience * lose time * no love lost

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (los), (loos), from (etyl) .

    Noun

  • (obsolete) Fame, renown; praise.
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.12:
  • That much he feared least reprochfull blame / With foule dishonour him mote blot therefore; / Besides the losse of so much loos and fame […].