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• give-and-take
  give-and-take

  noun

  the practice of dealing by compromise or mutual concession; cooperation.
• give and take
  give and take

  The practice of compromise, as in Every contract involves some give and take . This expression was first recorded in 1778, although the verbal idiom, to give and take , was used from the early 1500s.

give-and-take

American  

[giv-uhn-tayk] / ˈgɪv ənˈteɪk /

noun

1. the practice of dealing by compromise or mutual concession; cooperation.

2. good-natured exchange of talk, ideas, etc.

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give-and-take British  

noun

1. mutual concessions, shared benefits, and cooperation

2. a smoothly flowing exchange of ideas and talk

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verb

1. to make mutual concessions

give and take Idioms  

1. The practice of compromise, as in Every contract involves some give and take . This expression was first recorded in 1778, although the verbal idiom, to give and take , was used from the early 1500s.

2. Lively exchange of ideas or conversation, as in The legislature is famous for raucous give and take . [Second half of 1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of give-and-take

First recorded in 1760–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

give-and-take give and take

Chatbots “don’t teach us what we need to know about the give-and-take of real relationships, or the friction, risk, and complexities of love,” Turkle writes.

From Slate ● Sep. 29, 2026

Pacific security researcher Maima Koro said typical notions of give-and-take diplomacy missed the point.

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

Every member of this cast holds their own, granted, but Morgan and Radcliffe’s onscreen give-and-take earns Arthur’s slow, steady acceptance into Reggie’s weird, lovely family dynamic.

From Salon ● Jun. 20, 2026

The European Union, with its cumbersome culture of consensus-building and give-and-take, was the most elaborate expression of that political way of life.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 19, 2026

If you are not used to that sort of give-and-take, New York ATC can be very, very intimidating.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell

Then, on a hot D.C. morning, usually in June, extremely consequential opinions pop up on the court’s website that give and take the rights of millions of Americans.

From Slate ● Jul. 15, 2026

There’s a lesson there, though, in the never-ending give and take between popular folk and commercial pop music.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 2, 2026

I think it's a respect thing as much as anything and I'll give and take that.

From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2026

The internal CalOES memo alludes to this give and take: “Funds saved initially by skipping testing may be outweighed by later unseen costs, for example, reinvesting in remediation, addressing community complaints, litigation, or cleanup failure.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2026

He had a tightrope walker’s feel for the land beneath him—its surface tension, the give and take of things.

From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien

Related Words

• banter
• reciprocity