Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to government expenditures, revenues, and debt.
  • adjective Of or relating to finance or finances.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to the public treasury or revenue; relating to or concerned with the collection and expenditure of taxes and customs; pertaining to the financial operations of a government.
  • Hence Of or pertaining to financial matters in general: as, a, fiscal agent.
  • noun Revenue; the income of a sovereign or state.
  • noun In some countries, a treasurer or minister of finance.
  • noun In Spain and Portugal, the king's solicitor or attorney-general.
  • noun A public prosecutor. In Scotland he is also called procurator-fiscal. In the Dutch colonies in America the officer who acted as sheriff and public prosecutor and carried out the customs regulations of the Dutch West India Company was called a fiscal, or schout fiscael (fiscal sheriff).
  • noun An African shrike, as Lanius or Fiscus collaris.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete The income of a prince or a state; revenue; exchequer.
  • noun A treasurer.
  • noun A public officer in Scotland who prosecutes in petty criminal cases; -- called also procurator fiscal.
  • noun The solicitor in Spain and Portugal; the attorney-general.
  • adjective Pertaining to the public treasury or revenue.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Related to the treasury of a country, company, region or city, particularly to government spending and revenue.
  • adjective proscribed Pertaining to finance and money in general; financial.
  • noun A public official in certain countries having control of public revenue.
  • noun UK, Scottish law Procurator fiscal, a public prosecutor.
  • noun law In certain countries, including Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and former colonies of these countries and certain British colonies, solicitor or attorney general.
  • noun Any of various African shrikes of the genus Lanius.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective involving financial matters

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Latin fiscālis, from fiscus, money basket, treasury.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin fiscus ("treasury") – see fiscus and fisc.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

After Afrikaans fiskaal ("public official, hangman")

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word fiscal.

Examples

  • Readers see the term fiscal consolidation, but what does that mean exactly?

    WSJ Transcript of RBI Interview Alex Frangos 2012

  • In the run-up to the summit, Mr. Draghi's use of the term "fiscal compact" had spurred hopes that the ECB would be prepared to engage in massive buying of bonds from distressed euro zone states, an interpretation he discouraged on Thursday.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed Paul Taylor 2011

  • In the run-up to the summit, Mr. Draghi's use of the term "fiscal compact" had spurred hopes that the ECB would be prepared to engage in massive buying of bonds from distressed euro zone states, an interpretation he discouraged on Thursday.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed Paul Taylor 2011

  • In the run-up to the summit, Draghi's use of the term "fiscal compact" had spurred investor hopes that the ECB would engage in massive buying of bonds from distressed euro zone states.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • "They urgently need to formulate and clearly communicate a vision for a sound and stable euro area that deserves the name fiscal compact," Thomas Harjes, senior European economist at Barclays Capital in Frankfurt, wrote in a note on Jan. 6.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2012

  • "They urgently need to formulate and clearly communicate a vision for a sound and stable euro area that deserves the name fiscal compact," Thomas Harjes, senior European economist at Barclays Capital in Frankfurt, wrote in a note on Jan. 6.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2012

  • "They urgently need to formulate and clearly communicate a vision for a sound and stable euro area that deserves the name fiscal compact," Thomas Harjes, senior European economist at Barclays Capital in Frankfurt, wrote in a note on Jan. 6.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2012

  • I firmly believe that the term fiscal conservative and Washington insider (read elected representative) are mutually exclusive.

    Donklephant 2009

  • Moody's cites what it calls the fiscal and economic conditions caused by the damaged power plant along with Cyprus' fractious political climate.

    Cyprus Cabinet Resigns Amid Public Outcry 2011

  • Moody's cited what it calls the fiscal and economic conditions caused by a damaged power plant along with Cyprus' fractious political climate.

    Cyprus President Appoints Cabinet 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "The conundrum began when Fielding, staging a routine press conference outside the Senate doors, spoke at length about the need for monetary policy and physical policy to be in line.

    'You're talking about fiscal policy, are you?'inquired the Nine Network's Tim Lester cautiously, after Fielding's third repetition of the phrase.

    'That's correct. Fiscal: F-I-S-K-A-L.'"

    - Annabel Crabb, Once More With Fielding, theage.com.au, 9 September 2009.

    September 9, 2009

  • Dictionary.com, fiscal policy is the use of government expenditure and revenue collection to influence the economy

    November 5, 2010

  • We almost went over this.

    January 10, 2013

  • We almost went over this.

    January 10, 2013

  • In the sense of a public official (in Scotland):

    "I'll be over presently and have a word with the Fiscal."
    Dorothy L. Sayers, The Five Red Herrings

    December 26, 2015