red ink

noun

Definition of red ink

1 : a business loss : deficit
2 : the condition of showing a business loss

Examples of red ink in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Back in the heyday of personal letter-writing, all caps were just one part of a broader emotional ecosystem for expressing strong feeling, along with italics, underlining, larger letters, red ink, and other decorative formatting options. Gretchen Mcculloch, WIRED, "The Meaning of All Caps—in Texting and in Life," 23 July 2019 Stella takes the book home, only to find new tales appearing in blood-red ink, starring her friends as victims. Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, "Review: ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ sees Guillermo del Toro get his teen horror freak on," 8 Aug. 2019 Stella takes the book home, only to find new tales appearing in blood-red ink, starring her friends as victims. San Diego Union-Tribune, "Review: ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ sees del Toro get his teen horror freak on," 8 Aug. 2019 The bank announced plans earlier this month to eliminate 18,000 jobs as part of a new effort to stem the red ink. Matt Egan, CNN, "How negative interest rates helped turn Deutsche Bank into a disaster," 29 July 2019 President Barack Obama was then in power, and Republicans in Congress were allegedly horrified by the level of red ink. Veronique De Rugy, National Review, "Uncle Sam Shirks His Fiscal Responsibility in Budget Deal," 26 July 2019 Berkeleyside reported that rising operating costs were compounded by recent moves by Streit that added to the red ink. Justin Phillips, SFChronicle.com, "Hog’s Apothecary in Oakland to close on Sunday," 19 July 2019 Last April, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill poured red ink and some of her own blood onto a Confederate monument on the university's campus. Leah Asmelash And Brian Ries, CNN, "A Confederate monument in Nashville was vandalized with the words 'They were racists'," 17 June 2019 Gary municipal government could finish 2019 some $42.5 million in debt, and see the red ink rise to $58.4 million by 2023 if significant actions to increase the city’s income are not taken now, officials warned Wednesday. Gregory Tejeda, Post-Tribune, "Advisers: Deals could be difference between solvency and debt for Gary," 13 June 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'red ink.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

See More

First Known Use of red ink

1926, in the meaning defined at sense 1

History and Etymology for red ink

from the use of red ink in financial statements to indicate a loss

Keep scrolling for more

Keep scrolling for more

More Definitions for red ink

red ink

noun

English Language Learners Definition of red ink

chiefly US used to describe a situation in which a business, organization, etc., is spending more money than it is earning and has a lot of debt