- paying
- paying adj Paying, gainful, remunerative, lucrative, profitable share the meaning of bringing in a return in money.Paying often implies only such a return, but it may imply a satisfactory return for the labor or effort or expenditure involved (as in a venture, a business, or a trade){
a position as office boy was his first paying job
}{oats proved a paying crop
}{toolmaking is one of the better paying trades
}{a paying investment
}{important minerals found in paying quantities in Alabama include asbestos— Willingham
}Gainful applies chiefly to an endeavor (as a business or a trade) that leads to a money return whether large or small, but it may apply to persons or their acts that are motivated by a desire for gain{gainful occupations
}{the lawyer's profession is often preferred to government service as the more gainful career
}{most girls choose to be gainful workers for at least a few years before marriage— Landis
}{the hypocrisy that covers gainful exploitation by the pretext of a civilizing mission— Hobson
}Remunerative suggests a rewarding of labor, effort, or expenditure and often implies a profit or recompense that exceeds what is usual or customary{it was a remunerative venture for all concerned
}{some British farmers with land beside main lines of railways . . . find big boldly silhouetted advertisements to be the most remunerative of their crops— Montague
}{the State has come nearer than usual to a useful and remunerative working partnership with the industry— Macmillan
}Lucrative carries a stronger implication of large returns and applies to a business, trade, or profession or to an enterprise or undertaking that succeeds beyond one's hopes{he made a lucrative deal when he sold his house
}{a lucrative speculation in cotton futures
}Contributing to the town's prosperity and wealth was a lucrative smuggling trade— Amer. Guide Series: La.){our rulers will best promote the improvement of the nation ... by leaving capital to find its most lucrative course—P. M. Fraser
}Profitable also is applied to what is rewarding, but it need not imply a money return (see BENEFICIAL); however it usually suggests such returns, not necessarily in a lucrative manner but in any degree that is consonant with one's wishes or hopes{he owns a profitable hardware business
}{they hoped to make a profitable investment
}{follow a profitable trade
}{scientific research is the development of new, more profitable products and processes— S. Davis
}{putting to profitable use his conviction that the atmosphere of the music should determine its . . . presentation— Kolodin
}{he spoke unreservedly and plainly ... at a time when it would have been profitable to have been, at least, noncommittal— Charles Graves
}peace *truce, cease-fire, armistice
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
