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

“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

“You can’t forget, Clara. It’s make-or-break on our project.”

From Literature

“Folded,” which she co-wrote last year in Miami, depicts a make-or-break moment in a relationship.

From The Wall Street Journal

The novel’s title refers to the most difficult portion of any climb, the make-or-break moment when you either bail out or commit to reaching the summit.

From The Wall Street Journal