equities

IPA/ˈɛkwɪtiz/
KK[ˈɛkwətiz]IPA/ˈɛkwətiːz/

equities — noun

1. shares in companies that people buy and sell as an investment, especially when t

1.nounC2
Definition

shares in companies that people buy and sell as an investment, especially when talking about the stock market as a whole.

Example

Leo moved part of his pension from bonds into equities last spring.

move money from bonds into equities

Constanza avoids risky equities when she saves for her children's school fees.

Common collocations
  • invest in equities
  • global equities
  • emerging-market equities
  • equities fund
Synonyms
  • shares

    the most direct everyday term for pieces of ownership in a company

  • stocks

    very common in finance, especially in American English and market reporting

  • common stock

    a narrower formal term for ordinary company shares rather than every kind of listed equity

Grammar Patterns

invest in equities

move money into/out of equities

Usage Note

Used mainly in finance to talk about shares as a class of investment, often contrasted with bonds or cash. For a single ownership stake or the value left after debts, singular equity is more usual.

Common Mistakes

The fund holds government bonds and other equities.
The fund holds government bonds and other investments.
equities means company shares, not every kind of investment.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Equities is a market-level finance term for company shares as an investment class. Shares usually refers to the units themselves, stocks is the common market word in reports and investing talk, and bonds are a different asset class because they are loans rather than ownership.

shares ↗stocks ↗bonds ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • equities market
  • equities fund
  • equities portfolio

Phrases

  • invest in equities
  • shift money into equities
  • pull money out of equities

Prepositions

  • in equities

Etymology

Middle EnglishOld FrenchLatin

Equities is the plural form of equity. In finance, the plural developed as a convenient way to talk about shares collectively rather than about one company's ownership value.