profitable

Old French profitable.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒf.ɪ.tə.bl̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑ.fɪ.tə.bl̩/

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• Hyphenation: prof‧it‧a‧ble

profitable (comparative more profitable, superlative most profitable)

1. Producing a profit.
   • 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27:

     The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing" […] and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.

2. Beneficial, serviceable, of use.
   • c. 1521, John Skelton, Speke Parott:

     I wylbe ferme and ſtabyll
     And to yow ſeruyceabyll
     And also prophytabyll
     Yf ye be agreabyll
     My propyr Beſſe
     To turne a gayne to me

   • 1953, Richmond Lattimore, Aeschylus, “Prometheus Bound”, in Greek Tragedies:

     It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.

• beneficial
• lucrative

• unprofitable

From profiter +‎ -able.

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.fi.tabl/

profitable (plural profitables)

1. profitable

• “profitable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

profiter +‎ -able.

profitable m (oblique and nominative feminine singular profitable)

1. useful; usable; that one can make use of

• → English: profitable
• French: profitable

• profitable on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub