investment

[in-vest-muh nt] /ɪnˈvɛst mənt/
noun
1.
the investing of money or capital in order to gain profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value.
2.
a particular instance or mode of investing.
3.
a thing invested in, as a business, a quantity of shares of stock, etc.
4.
something that is invested; sum invested.
5.
the act or fact of investing or state of being invested, as with a garment.
6.
a devoting, using, or giving of time, talent, emotional energy, etc., as for a purpose or to achieve something:
His investment in the project included more time than he cared to remember.
7.
Biology. any covering, coating, outer layer, or integument, as of an animal or vegetable.
8.
the act of investing with a quality, attribute, etc.
9.
investiture with an office, dignity, or right.
10.
a siege or blockade; the surrounding of a place with military forces or works, as in besieging.
11.
Also called investment compound. Metallurgy. a refractory material applied in a plastic state to a pattern to make a mold.
12.
Archaic. a garment or vestment.
Origin
1590-1600 for def 12; 1605-15 for def 1; invest + -ment
Related forms
nonreinvestment, noun
overinvestment, noun
preinvestment, noun
proinvestment, adjective
reinvestment, noun
Examples from the web for investment
  • But the average return was below the returns of the major stock and bond indexes commonly used to measure investment performance.
  • And as your article rightly recognizes, there is also no system for evaluating social benefit or return on investment.
  • Landfill space costs money for state and local governments, which do not receive a monetary return on this investment.
  • No funding from government, and private industry cannot see an immediate return on investment, so no private funding either.
  • The students were asking me to justify the return on investment in a college education.
  • The incredibly large amount of investment in real estate during the boom years will not return.
  • It's all about the return on investment and how the message is presented.
  • Given the immense cost of the shuttle program, however, the science return on investment remains fairly slim.
  • Firstly, the energy return on investment is absolutely fundamental to the role of solar energy in the energy economy.
  • The results came on the back of growing investment banking fees as well as strong sales and trading results.
British Dictionary definitions for investment

investment

/ɪnˈvɛstmənt/
noun
1.
  1. the act of investing money
  2. the amount invested
  3. an enterprise, asset, etc, in which money is or can be invested
2.
  1. the act of investing effort, resources, etc
  2. the amount invested
3.
(economics) the amount by which the stock of capital (plant, machinery, materials, etc) in an enterprise or economy changes
4.
(biology) the outer layer or covering of an organ, part, or organism
5.
a less common word for investiture (sense 1)
6.
the act of investing or state of being invested, as with an official robe, a specific quality, etc
7.
(rare) the act of besieging with military forces, works, etc
Word Origin and History for investment
n.

1590s, "act of putting on vestments" (a sense now found in investiture); later "act of being invested with an office, right, endowment, etc." (1640s); and "surrounding and besieging of a military target" (1811); see invest + -ment. Commercial sense is from 1610s, originally of the finances of the East India Company; general use is from 1740 in the sense of "conversion of money to property in hopes of profit," and by 1837 in the sense "amount of money so invested; property viewed as a vehicle for profit." For evolution of commercial senses, see invest.

investment in Culture

investment definition


The purchase of property with the expectation that its value will increase over time.