Meaning & use
carry-over
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
A habit, effect, amount, or practice that continues or moves from one time, place, or situation into another.
Grammar: Use countable for distinct items and uncountable for a general continuing effect; the verb is write carry over.
Patterns
- a carry-over from something
- carry-over into something
- as a carry-over
The early meeting was a carry-over from the holiday schedule.
Some anxiety carried over into the new semester.
nouncountable or uncountablebusinessfinance
In business or finance, an amount or benefit transferred from one accounting period to the next.
Grammar: Often used with balance, loss, or leave; contrast carry forward, which can imply posting to a new account.
Patterns
- carry-over balance
- tax carry-over
- annual leave carry-over
The firm recorded a small carry-over balance from December.
Employees may request annual leave carry-over under the new policy.
Word forms
| plural | carry-overs |
|---|
Common combinations
- carry-over effect
- Better sleep had a carry-over effect on his morning focus.
- carry-over balance
- Check the carry-over balance before closing the month.
- carry-over from the past
- The rule was a carry-over from the past and no longer helped.
- vacation carry-over
- Vacation carry-over must be approved by March.
Synonyms and how they differ
- remainder
- Remainder means what is left after part is removed; carry-over stresses movement into a later period.
- legacy
- Legacy suggests something inherited from the past, especially from people or institutions.
- rollover
- Rollover is close in finance and phones, but carry-over is wider and includes habits and effects.
Opposites
Word family
- carry over verb
- To continue, transfer, or postpone something into a later time.
- carried-over adjective
- Describes something transferred or continued from before.
Commonly confused: carry-over or carryover?
carry-over vs carryover
Many writers omit the hyphen, but careful style keeps the hyphen for the noun carry-over and two words for the verb.
Practice
Choose the best wording for a noun: “The unpaid amount was listed as a ____ from 2024.”
Choose one answer.
The sentence needs a hyphenated noun before from; carry over is the verb phrase, and the -ed/-ing forms do not fit as a noun here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “carry-over”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.