- [usually before noun] a net amount of money is the amount that remains when nothing more is to be taken away
- a net profit of £500
- net income/earnings (= after tax has been paid)
- net of something What do you earn net of tax?
- [only before noun] the net weight of something is the weight without its container or the material it is wrapped in
- 450 gms net weight
- [only before noun] final, after all the important facts have been included
- The net result is that small shopkeepers are being forced out of business.
- Canada is now a substantial net importer of medicines (= it imports more than it exports).
- a net gain
Word Originadjective Middle English (in the senses ‘clean’ and ‘smart’): from French net ‘neat’, from Latin nitidus ‘shining’, from nitere ‘to shine’. The sense ‘free from deductions’ is first recorded in late Middle English.
Check pronunciation:
net