Meaning & use
trade-off
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A situation in which getting one good thing means accepting less of another good thing.
Grammar: Countable and usually followed by between: a trade-off between speed and accuracy.
Patterns
- a trade-off between something and something
- a trade-off with something
- make a trade-off
There is always a trade-off between working longer hours and spending time with family.
The design involves a trade-off between cost and quality.
We had to make a trade-off: more features or a simpler app.
noununcountable
The act of balancing two things that cannot both be fully achieved.
Grammar: Uncountable when it refers to the process in general, not one specific balance.
Patterns
- involve trade-off
- accept trade-off
Good planning always involves some trade-off.
In medicine, trade-off is unavoidable when treatments have side effects.
Word forms
| plural | trade-offs |
|---|
Common combinations
- a trade-off between
- Politicians face a trade-off between taxes and public services.
- make a trade-off
- You will have to make a trade-off somewhere in the budget.
- an acceptable trade-off
- Losing a little speed is an acceptable trade-off for better safety.
- a classic trade-off
- It is the classic trade-off between time and money.
Synonyms and how they differ
- compromise
- Focuses on each side giving up something to reach agreement; trade-off stresses that you gain one thing only by losing part of another.
- balance
- Suggests a stable, successful mixture; a trade-off often sounds more like a necessary loss.
- exchange
- Used mainly for actually swapping things, not for abstract competing goals.
Commonly confused: trade-off or tradeoff?
trade-off vs tradeoff
Some writers spell it without a hyphen, but the hyphenated form trade-off is standard in careful writing.
Practice
Choosing a cheaper apartment means a ______ between price and location.
Choose one answer.
Trade-off means balancing two competing things. Trade-in is about giving an old item as part payment, which does not fit here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “trade-off”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.