break-even

American  

[breyk-ee-vuhn] / ˈbreɪkˈi vən /

Or breakeven

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 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

---

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]

---

Etymology

Origin of break-even

An Americanism dating back to 1935–40

Example Sentences

Wall Street was looking for essentially a break-even gross profit from $1.2 billion in sales.

From Barron's

Rivian Automotive rallies after reporting a $120 million gross profit in the fourth quarter, exceeding Wall Street’s break-even expectation.

From Barron's

Rivian Automotive rallies after reporting a $120 million gross profit in the fourth quarter, exceeding Wall Street’s break-even expectation.

From Barron's

And it is inching toward the production break-even price, below which Russian oil companies lose money.

From The Wall Street Journal

Since the middle of 2025, “monthly job gains have remained right around my staff’s estimate of the break-even level needed to keep the unemployment rate stable,” she said, adding that “jobs gains have not shown signs of a further slowing trend.”

From The Wall Street Journal