portfolio
noun
Simple meaning
A collection of someone's best work, or a case for carrying documents
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pawrtfohleeohSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
pɔɹtˈfoʊlioʊ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
finance
A list of the financial assets held by an individual or a bank or other financial institution
“They were disappointed by the poor returns on their stock portfolio.”
finance
The group of investments and other assets held by an investor.
business
A collection of assets; (figurative) any collection of things considered as investments or assets, (rarely) also liabilities.
by extension
The collection of such documents, especially the works of an artist or photographer.
A large, flat, thin case for carrying loose papers or drawings or maps; usually leather
“He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.”
A case for carrying papers, drawings, photographs, maps and other flat documents.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A list of the financial assets held by an individual or a bank or other financial institution
Used this way, portfolio is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a financial use: it has a settled meaning in accounting and business, where precision matters more than colour.
“They were disappointed by the poor returns on their stock portfolio.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Finance/economics
- Business/professional
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
List / collectionnoun
“They were disappointed by the poor returns on their stock portfolio.”
Large / casenoun
“He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.