dividend

dividend — noun

1. A regular payment that a corporation makes to its stockholders from the earnings

1.nounB1
Definition

A regular payment that a corporation makes to its stockholders from the earnings it has produced.

Example

The board of directors announced a higher dividend for the third quarter this year.

announce a dividend — telling shareholders the upcoming payment

Tunde reinvested his dividends to buy more shares in the company.

reinvest dividends — using the payment to buy more shares

Common collocations
  • annual dividend
  • quarterly dividend
  • cash dividend
  • stock dividend
  • dividend payment
  • dividend yield
  • declare a dividend
  • pay a dividend
  • cut the dividend
  • boost the dividend
Synonyms
  • payout

    Broader term — any distribution of money, not necessarily from company profits to shareholders.

  • return

    More general — includes both dividend income and increase in share value (capital gain).

  • profit share

    Used more for partnerships or employee bonus schemes rather than public companies.

Grammar Patterns

declare a dividend

pay a dividend

dividend of [amount]

Usage Note

Often used in the plural (dividends) when the company makes multiple payments or the shareholder collects from several holdings. Common verb partners are pay, declare, receive, cut, and boost.

Common Mistakes

I earned a high interest on my dividend.
I received a high dividend on my shares.
A dividend is the payment itself, not a rate applied to something else.
The company gave me a dividend from my salary.
The company paid me a dividend from its annual profits.
Dividends come from company profits, not from an individual employee's pay.

2. In arithmetic, the number that is being split into equal parts by another number

2.nounB1
Definition

In arithmetic, the number that is being split into equal parts by another number; the number written above the line in a fraction.

Example

In 15 divided by 3, the dividend is 15 and the divisor is 3.

dividend ÷ divisor = quotient — the basic terms of division

The teacher asked Mizuki to identify the dividend and the divisor in the equation.

identify the dividend — finding which number is being divided

Common collocations
  • identify the dividend
  • find the dividend
  • the dividend is [number]
Antonyms
  • divisor

    The number that divides another; the bottom number in a fraction.

Grammar Patterns

dividend ÷ divisor = quotient

dividend of [number]

Usage Note

A mathematical term mainly used in primary and secondary school arithmetic. In real-world contexts, the word dividend is less common than divisor or quotient outside the classroom.

Common Mistakes

In 12 ÷ 4, the dividend is 4.
In 12 ÷ 4, the dividend is 12.
The dividend is the number being split up, which comes first in the division notation.

3. An additional and often unexpected good result that comes from doing something,

3.nounB2
Definition

An additional and often unexpected good result that comes from doing something, beyond the main reason for doing it.

Example

Learning a second language has the added dividend of improving your memory.

added dividend of + [gerund] — an extra benefit pattern

The friendship Camille formed at work was an unexpected dividend of the internship.

unexpected dividend of [something]

Common collocations
  • added dividend
  • unexpected dividend
  • pay dividends
  • the dividend of [action]
Synonyms
  • bonus

    More general — can be planned or expected, whereas dividend suggests an unforeseen extra outcome.

  • perk

    Informal — usually refers to a regular benefit tied to a job or membership, not a one-time extra.

  • added benefit

    More neutral and descriptive; dividend has a slightly more positive, surprising tone.

Grammar Patterns

dividend of [something]

pay dividends

added dividend of [noun/gerund]

Usage Note

The fixed phrase pay dividends means that an investment of time, effort, or money continues to produce good results over a long period. This sense is common in personal development, business writing, and lifestyle advice.

Common Mistakes

The extra day off was a dividend I worked hard for.
The extra day off was an unexpected dividend of completing the project early.
In the figurative sense, a dividend is a bonus result that comes naturally from an action, not something you earn directly.

4. A portion of a total sum of money that is shared out among a group of people who

4.nounB2
Definition

A portion of a total sum of money that is shared out among a group of people who all have a claim to it, such as members of a co-operative or holders of an insurance policy.

Example

The cooperative members received their annual dividend from the store's profits.

annual dividend from [source of profits]

Each policyholder was entitled to a dividend from the insurance fund.

Common collocations
  • annual dividend
  • cooperative dividend
  • insurance dividend
  • receive a dividend
  • split the dividend
Synonyms
  • share

    General term for a portion of anything; dividend is more specific to a formal distribution from a collective fund.

  • allocation

    More formal and neutral; dividend carries the idea of a surplus or profit being shared out.

  • payout

    Broader — covers any money distributed; dividend suggests a planned share-out to entitled members.

Grammar Patterns

dividend from [fund]

annual dividend

receive a dividend

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1: sense 4 applies to any shared fund or pool (e.g. insurance, cooperatives, lottery pools) and does not involve stock shares or corporate profits.

Common Mistakes

My friend and I split the dinner bill as a dividend.
My friend and I split the dinner bill evenly.
Dividend implies a shared payout from a common fund or surplus, not just any shared expense.

Word family

  • divide
    verbA2
  • division
    nounB1
  • divisor
    nounB1
  • divisible
    adjectiveB2
  • indivisible
    adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

While all three terms refer to money received from an investment, a dividend specifically means a regular payment a company makes to its shareholders from its profits. A payout is a broader term that covers any distribution of money — it could be a dividend, but also an insurance benefit, a lottery prize, or a contract settlement. Return is the widest of the three: it includes both income (like dividends) and any increase in the value of the investment itself when you sell it. Profit share is usually reserved for partnerships or employee bonus schemes and is not used for publicly traded companies. For example, you might say: 'The stock provides a good total return through both price growth and an annual dividend.' But you would not say: 'The company announced a profit share to its shareholders' — that would be a dividend.

payoutreturn ↗profit share

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • regularly paid

Phrases

  • pay dividends
  • declare a dividend

Prepositions

  • dividend of [amount]
  • dividend from [source]

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Dividend comes from the Latin word 'dividendum', meaning 'something that is to be divided'. It was formed from 'dividere' (to divide). The word first appeared in English in the 1400s as a mathematical term for a number to be divided, and by the 1700s it had expanded to mean a share of a company's profits paid to investors. The figurative sense — an extra benefit or bonus — developed later, in the 1800s.