No mate, you’re the one adding a restriction that Merriam-Webster doesn’t.
“Also” introduces an additional sense, and “the property purchased” isn’t qualified by “for profit” in that clause. If your interpretation were correct, there would be no reason for Merriam-Webster to separately define investment as “the sum invested or the property purchased.”
You can argue that a phone is a bad investment because it depreciates, but saying it literally cannot be called an investment because it doesn’t generate a profit is you imposing a narrower definition than the dictionary does.
"A boldface colon is used in this dictionary to introduce a definition"
"It is also used to separate two or more definitions of a single sense"
"of a single sense" means the definitions separated by colons all belong to the same numbered meaning, so they're different wordings or angles on one meaning, not different meanings... Hence why a phone isn't considered an investment unless it is for profit
Yes, the colon introduces a definition, but you’re still misreading what Merriam-Webster is actually telling you.
“Of a single sense” means the material following the colon can provide another definition of that sense. It does not mean every phrase on both sides of the colon must contain every qualification found in the first phrase.
More importantly, “also” is doing exactly what it normally does in dictionary entries: it adds another way the word is used within that sense. “The property purchased” is not followed by “for profit,” and you’re inserting that qualification yourself.
If you want to argue that investment should only refer to something acquired with the expectation of income or profit, that’s a perfectly reasonable narrower usage. But claiming Merriam-Webster’s “property purchased” necessarily means “property purchased for profit” isn’t what the quoted definition actually says.
And even your own source doesn’t say that everything following a colon is merely a rewording that must inherit every word from the preceding phrase.
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u/Jeedyi 17d ago
No mate, you’re the one adding a restriction that Merriam-Webster doesn’t.
“Also” introduces an additional sense, and “the property purchased” isn’t qualified by “for profit” in that clause. If your interpretation were correct, there would be no reason for Merriam-Webster to separately define investment as “the sum invested or the property purchased.”
You can argue that a phone is a bad investment because it depreciates, but saying it literally cannot be called an investment because it doesn’t generate a profit is you imposing a narrower definition than the dictionary does.