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• make-or-break
  make-or-break

  adjective

  either completely successful or utterly disastrous.
• make or break
  make or break

  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.

make-or-break

American  

[mayk-er-brayk] / 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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

make-or-break make or break

EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic will head to Beijing on Thursday for two days of make-or-break meetings with Chinese officials to try to stave off a trade war.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

Riley, meanwhile, has not seemed like a head coach who’s feeling the heat heading into a make-or-break season at USC.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

Ada is facing a make-or-break debut and struggling with a homesickness that seems to outweigh her desire to model.

From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026

In May, Indian authorities voided the original exam—a grueling, make-or-break three-hour test that can determine a young person’s future career prospects—following allegations that some questions had been leaked in advance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026

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

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

It is an anecdote which underlines the scale of the challenge Badenoch faced at that conference, an event her allies are now with distance willing to acknowledge was make or break for her leadership.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

The goal is to maintain the rhythm of the episode while also understanding the timing that may make or break a joke for the viewer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

That distinction can make or break a campaign.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026

“Whether a client does conversions or not is not going to make or break the feasibility of their financial plan,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● May 15, 2026

"Okay, ladies, I need you all to pay attention, because what I'm gonna show you could make or break you," she said.

From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds

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