sinking fund
- noun
- /ˈsɪŋkɪŋ fʌnd/
- Specialized
- The company set up a sinking fund to ensure it could pay off its long-term debt gradually.
Examples
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This fund had been established by William Pitt the Younger because redeeming debt at par, under Gideon's structure, was expensive, and the sinking fund allowed other debt to be redeemed through market purchases.
Academic text (2018) -
The types of financial guarantees regulators can require of credit producers include surety bonds, trust funds, escrow accounts, sinking funds, insurance, self-bonds, and corporate guarantees. Id. at 105.
Academic text (1994) -
Sinking fund revenue can be used to pay for building and grounds improvements, but not operational costs such as teacher salaries.
Blog text (34) -
$50,000 for an Annual sinking fund and alternating current...
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External sinking fund (Nuclear Power Levy): This is built up over the years from a percentage of the electricity rates charged to consumers.
Blog text (5) -
He stated a .25-mill sinking fund will be sufficient to pay for almost all of a list of projects he has identified.
Blog text (34) -
By February 1817, the sinking fund totaled £62 million.
Academic text (2018) -
In addition to the $822 million of debt held by the public, the government had since 1786 built up a sinking fund, intended to accrue at compound interest and allow the debt to be redeemed within 45 years.
Academic text (2018) -
To finance future repairs, the school district established a sinking fund with regular contributions from the budget.
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After years of saving, the sinking fund had accumulated enough money to replace the aging infrastructure.
Synonyms
Money set aside to pay for future costs or emergencies
Antonyms
How Restricted
- Formal
- Specialized
- Specialized
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although 'fund' clearly signals a sum of money, the modifier 'sinking' does not transparently convey the technical financial sense of 'retiring debt or setting money aside over time' to a B1 learner; 'sinking' more commonly evokes 'falling' or 'submerging'. The relation is partially inferable (a fund related to reducing something), but the precise purpose is specialized terminology that learners typically need prior exposure to, so it is not fully predictable.
Etymology
Sinking fund may come from the simple image of a sinking debt and a separate fund where people put money. People make regular payments into that fund so the debt slowly 'sinks' away, which is why it means 'a fund to repay a debt'.