pecuniary
- 1Relating to money or to financial matters.
Board members must declare any pecuniary interest in contracts the city is considering.
The court awarded damages for both pecuniary and emotional losses.
Similarfinancial, monetary, economic, fiscal
Note
Behind this adjective stands a herd of cattle: Latin pecūnia, "money," came from pecū, "cattle," and English fee belongs to the same family. Its favorite partner is interest. In Trollope's Doctor Thorne the doctor might be suspected of "some pecuniary interest" in a loan, and Russell's History of Western Philosophy finds philosophers' views matching "the pecuniary interests of their class." It is the formal word where everyday English says financial.
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Origin
From Latin pecūniārius, from pecūnia (“money”), itself from pecū (“cattle”), and thus related to fee.