profit margin

noun

The ratio of net income to net sales of a company expressed as a percentage.

“If a company has $10,000 net income and $100,000 net sales, then the profit margin equals ($10,000 : $100,000) .10, or 10%.”

Similar
margin of profitgross margin

Meanings

nounprofit margin (plural profit margins)

plural profit margins

  1. The ratio of net income to net sales of a company expressed as a percentage.

    If a company has $10,000 net income and $100,000 net sales, then the profit margin equals ($10,000 : $100,000) .10, or 10%.

    1 more example

    A letter demanding payment costs her £75. A knock on the door from a company representative: another £235. Taking her car: an extra £110. Then there’s a daily storage charge, so that she pays £24 for every day she can’t drive. These were fees set by the government, using the industry’s sums. The result is that the firms chasing some of the poorest people in the country can rake in handsome profit margins.

    2023 August 17, Aditya Chakrabortty, “Can’t pay and they really do take it away: what happens when the bailiffs come knocking”, in The Guardian

Synonyms & antonyms

nounthe ratio gross profits divided by net sales

Similar
margin of profitgross margin
Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Catalan marge de benefici, marge de guany
  • marge de beneficiratio of income to sales
  • marge de guanyratio of income to sales
Chinese Mandarin 利潤率 /利润率
  • 利潤率 /利润率 (lìrùnlǜ)ratio of income to sales
Finnish voittoprosentti, voittomarginaali
  • voittoprosenttiratio of income to sales
  • voittomarginaaliratio of income to sales
French marge bénéficiaire nette, marge nette
  • marge bénéficiaire netteratio of income to sales
  • marge netteratio of income to sales
German Gewinnspanne
  • Gewinnspanneratio of income to sales
Japanese 利鞘
  • 利鞘 (rizaya)ratio of income to sales
Polish marża
  • marżaratio of income to sales
Portuguese margem de lucro
  • margem de lucroratio of income to sales
Russian рента́бельность прода́ж
  • рента́бельность прода́ж (rentábelʹnostʹ prodáž)ratio of income to sales
Spanish margen de beneficios
  • margen de beneficiosratio of income to sales
Cite this entry
APA

profit margin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/profit%20margin

MLA

“profit margin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/profit%20margin. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “profit margin,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/profit%20margin.

Source: profit margin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.