break-even

Or break·e·ven

[breyk-ee-vuhn]

adjective

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

noun

1. break-even point.

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

break even

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

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of break even¹

An Americanism dating back to 1935–40

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Example Sentences

While some might have questioned why Corcoran did not list the property for more than a break-even price—at best—the entrepreneur insisted that she never saw the dwelling as a lucrative investment opportunity, but rather a space in which to build the perfect family home.

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“We still have a ways to travel to figure out what a break-even number would look like.”

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Its break-even oil price sits at U.S.

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European soccer authorities no longer let clubs spend money with total abandon and holds them to strict break-even rules.

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Chambers: Most of my companies are approaching break-even now.

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