sweat equity

noun

An investment of labour, typically by the owner and often his or her family, usually in a small business or personal residence that increases the value of the business or residence.

“My wife and I have put a lot of sweat equity into our home: I did the renovations and she did the redecorating.”

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Meanings

nounsweat equity (countable and uncountable, plural sweat equities)

plural sweat equities

  1. countableidiomaticuncountablebusinessAn investment of labour, typically by the owner and often his or her family, usually in a small business or personal residence that increases the value of the business or residence.

    My wife and I have put a lot of sweat equity into our home: I did the renovations and she did the redecorating.

    1 more example

    Mr. TALLE: His time and his wife's time in that article is called the "sweat equity". Mr. GRIGGS: Look at the fun they had doing it.

    1949, U.S. House of Representatives, Housing amendments of 1949: Hearing before the Committee on Banking and Currency, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, page 203
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: sweat equity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.