break-even

American  

[breyk-ee-vuhn] / ˈbreɪkˈi vən /

Or breakeven

adjective

1. having income exactly equal to expenditure, thus showing neither profit nor loss.

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noun

1. break-even point.

2. Energy. the stage at which a fission or fusion reaction becomes self-sustaining.

break even British  

verb

1. (intr, adverb) to attain a level of activity, as in commerce, or a point of operation, as in gambling, at which there is neither profit nor loss

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noun

1. accounting

   1. the level of commercial activity at which the total cost and total revenue of a business enterprise are equal

   2. ( as modifier )

      breakeven prices

break even Idioms  

1. Neither gain nor lose in some venture, recoup the amount one invested. For example, If the dealer sells five cars a week, he'll break even. This expression probably came from one or another card game (some authorities say it was faro), where it meant to bet that a card would win and lose an equal number of times. It soon was transferred to balancing business gains and losses. Novelist Sinclair Lewis so used it in Our Mr. Wrenn (1914). The usage gave rise to the noun break-even point, for the amount of sales or production needed for a firm to recoup its investment. [Late 1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of break-even

An Americanism dating back to 1935–40

Example Sentences

What is the break-even rate for jobs?

From Barron's

The break-even, where demand destruction actually begins, is $134 an ounce.

From MarketWatch

Despite decades of effort, no magnetic confinement system has achieved a plasma energy gain greater than 1—that is, break-even.

From The Wall Street Journal

By cutting costs, the companies have lowered their break-even costs: the oil price they need to make money on each barrel they sell.

From Barron's

“Both of these companies have benefitted from their low upstream break-even prices and solid turnaround of downstream businesses,” wrote William Blair analyst Neal Dingmann in an email to Barron’s.

From Barron's