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definitions

opportunity cost

noun Economics.

the money or other benefits lost when pursuing a particular course of action instead of a mutually-exclusive alternative: The company cannot afford the opportunity cost attached to policy decisions made by the current CEO.

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Nearby words

  1. opportunism,
  2. opportunist,
  3. opportunistic,
  4. opportunistic infection,
  5. opportunity,
  6. opportunity shop,
  7. opposable,
  8. opposable thumb,
  9. oppose,
  10. opposed

Origin of opportunity cost

First recorded in 1910–15
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
British Dictionary definitions for opportunity cost

opportunity cost

noun

economics the benefit that could have been gained from an alternative use of the same resource
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012