make-or-break

[meyk-er-breyk]

adjective

1. either completely successful or utterly disastrous.

   a make-or-break marketing policy.

Word History and Origins

Origin of make or break¹

First recorded in 1915–20

Idioms and Phrases

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.

Example Sentences

Being on the front end of projects has given Arden a window onto how make-or-break artistic decisions are made.

From Los Angeles Times

Though “Sinners” is far from the determined indie film that “Fruitvale Station” was, trades are responding to Coogler’s latest as though the opening weekend is a make-or-break moment for the film.

From Salon

According to Kerr, the snack assortment may not be the single make-or-break factor in a dispensary’s success, but it’s a key part of the experience, especially when you consider how much of retail, cannabis or otherwise, is about the story you tell through sight.

From Salon

France's Marine Le Pen faces a make-or-break moment on Monday, as a judge rules on whether she should be banned from the next presidential election.

From BBC

But it's being seen by many as a make-or-break title for French publisher Ubisoft, one of the biggest gaming companies in the world.

From BBC