make-or-break

American  

[meyk-er-breyk] / ˈmeɪk ərˈbreɪk /

adjective

1. either completely successful or utterly disastrous.

   a make-or-break marketing policy.

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make or break Idioms  

1. Cause either total success or total ruin, as in This assignment will make or break her as a reporter. This rhyming expression, first recorded in Charles Dickens's Barnaby Rudge (1840), has largely replaced the much older (16th-century) alliterative synonym make or mar, at least in America.

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Etymology

Origin of make-or-break

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

TSA wait times are frustrating fliers — and this Friday looks to be a make-or-break day for American travelers.

From MarketWatch

March 27 is a make-or-break day for TSA officers.

From The Wall Street Journal

Robert Fry, of Robert Fry Economics, who currently puts the probability of a downturn at 40%, said $125 oil for eight weeks is his make-or-break point.

From The Wall Street Journal

“The phrase ‘make-or-break product’ has been said, and it is probably true,” Scaringe, Rivian’s CEO, said in an interview.

From The Wall Street Journal

When it begins mass production in April, as company officials claim, it will be a test of Tesla’s make-or-break plan to move beyond being a traditional car company—and a test of U.S. safety regulations that were never meant for something like this.

From The Wall Street Journal