Meaning & use
net benefit
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
The good result that remains after all costs, losses, or bad effects have been taken away.
Grammar: Often used with 'a' or 'the': the project produced a net benefit.
Patterns
- a net benefit to someone
- a net benefit for something
- produce/derive a net benefit
- the net benefit of something
After we subtracted the clean-up costs, the new factory brought a net benefit to the town.
Economists argue that free trade is a net benefit for most countries.
The study found a small net benefit from the training program.
nouncountable
An advantage that is greater than any disadvantage connected with it.
Grammar: Common in comparisons: 'a net benefit rather than a burden'.
Patterns
- be a net benefit rather than something
- see something as a net benefit
Most residents see the new rail link as a net benefit rather than a nuisance.
For patients, the drug is a net benefit even though it has mild side effects.
Word forms
| plural | net benefits |
|---|
Common combinations
- a net benefit to society
- Volunteering is a net benefit to society as a whole.
- a net benefit for the economy
- Tourism has been a net benefit for the local economy.
- produce a net benefit
- The reforms are expected to produce a net benefit within five years.
- a net benefit rather than a cost
- They presented the change as a net benefit rather than a cost.
- weigh the net benefit
- Regulators must weigh the net benefit of each new rule.
Synonyms and how they differ
- advantage
- Simpler and more general; it does not say that costs have been subtracted.
- gain
- Focuses on what is won or added, not on the balance after losses.
- benefit
- Means any good effect, while 'net benefit' stresses the final balance.
Opposites
Word family
- benefit noun
- A helpful or good effect.
- beneficial adjective
- Having a good or helpful effect.
- beneficiary noun
- A person who receives money or an advantage.
Commonly confused: net benefit or gross benefit?
net benefit vs gross benefit
'Gross' means before costs are subtracted; 'net' means after they are subtracted.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'net benefit' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Net benefit' is the gain left after costs are removed, as in option 2. Option 1 uses 'gross', which is the opposite idea, and option 3 treats it as a payment, which it is not.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “net benefit”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.