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Glite Dictionary
💰 Income without work 📊 Advance payment
unearned revenue

unearned revenue

7.2
Money a person gets without working, for example from stocks or rent
  • noun
  • /ʌnˈɜrnəd ˈrɛvəˌnu/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ingresos no ganados
  • Interest on savings accounts is a common form of unearned revenue for individuals.

Examples

  • Dividends from stocks are considered unearned revenue for tax purposes.

  • The accountant carefully recorded the company's unearned revenue in the financial statement.

  • The company reported an increase in unearned revenue this quarter.

  • Is unearned revenue considered taxable income?

  • Dividends from stocks are regarded as unearned revenue because they are received without direct work.

  • Interest earned on savings accounts is a common example of unearned revenue for many people.

  • The financial report included a detailed breakdown of the company's unearned revenue from rental income.

Synonyms

unearned income
vsunearned revenue
  • Specialized
1 4.4

Money you get without working, for example interest or rent

is restricted to personal income rather than income in general

How Earned

earnings
309 2.3
revenue
  • Specialized
352 3.4
income
∞ 1.2
unearned revenue
  • Specialized
7.2

Surface Forms

unearned revenue singular
unearned revenues plural

Morphology

unearned + revenue

The meaning is directly compositional: 'unearned' negates 'earned', so 'unearned revenue' literally denotes revenue that has not been earned. While the exact accounting classification as a liability is technical, the basic notion of income received but not yet earned is transparent and predictable from the constituents, so a B1 learner who knows the words would understand the core meaning.

Etymology

Unearned revenue means money you get without doing work. Here unearned means you did not work for it and revenue means money, so it refers to 'income' like dividends, interest, or rent.