trade-off

noun

ˈtrād-ˌȯf How to pronounce trade-off (audio)
Synonyms of trade-off
1
: a balancing of factors all of which are not attainable at the same time
Governments face a trade-off between privacy and increasing the effectiveness of tax collection.—Ricardo Perez-Truglia and Ugo Troiano
2
: a giving up of one thing in return for another : exchange
trade off transitive verb

Synonyms of trade-off

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Examples of trade-off in a Sentence

a trade-off in which a company got a celebrity spokesperson and a fading star got some much-needed cash
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
And what is happening is that the design of our technology—the design of these apps of smartphones, or honestly the design of society in general right now—is pushing you to accept a certain set of costs and trade-offs. — Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 28 Aug. 2026 Online privacy tools often force a trade-off between convenience and protection, but AdGuard’s family bundle aims to close that gap for households with multiple devices. — Stackcommerce Team, PC Magazine, 28 Aug. 2026 By building three different-sized robots based on the same base model, the team was able to observe some of the trade-offs that occur when a real fish grows larger, something that naturally occurs over many generations. — Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 27 Aug. 2026 These developments, usually considered in isolation, illustrate that voters and politicians alike want things that are fundamentally incompatible but refuse to acknowledge the trade-offs. — Ramesh Ponnuru, Washington Post, 25 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for trade-off

Word History

First Known Use

1909, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of trade-off was in 1909

Rhymes for trade-off

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Browse Nearby Words

trade name
trade-off
trade on
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Cite this Entry

“Trade-off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trade-off. Accessed 30 Aug. 2026.

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Kids Definition

trade-off

noun
ˈtrād-ˌȯf
1
: a balancing of things all of which cannot be had at the same time
2
: a giving up of one thing in return for another
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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