profitable

comparative more profitable · superlative most profitable

1. Producing a profit.

   Profitable operation is being made possible by the widespread introduction of capacious diesel railcars, which for their comfort and speed are very popular with the travelling public.

   1953 April, “Reviving U.S.A. Passenger Traffic”, in Railway Magazine, page 218

   2 more examples

   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.

   2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27

   California state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson told The Wall Street Journal last month when the legislation passed that “one-fourth of California’s publicly traded companies still do not have a single woman on their board, despite numerous independent studies that show companies with women on their board are more profitable and productive.”

   2018 September 30, Julia Carpenter and Jackie Wattles, “California has a new law: No more all-male boards”, in CNN Business

2. Beneficial, serviceable, of use.

   Great Men, taken up in any way, are profitable company.

   1840 May 5, Thomas Carlyle, “Lecture I. The Hero as Divinity. Odin. Paganism: Scandinavian Mythology.”, in On Heroes, Hero-Worship and The Heroic in History, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1840, →OCLC, page 2

   2 more examples

   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

   c. 1521, John Skelton, Speke Parott

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

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