pros and cons

American  

plural noun

1. the favorable and the unfavorable factors or reasons; advantages and disadvantages.

---

pros and cons British  

plural noun

1. the various arguments in favour of and against a motion, course of action, etc

---

pros and cons Idioms  

1. Arguments or considerations for and against something, as in We'd best weigh all the pros and cons before we decide to add a new wing to the library. This idiom is taken from the Latin pro for “for” and con for “against.” [Late 1500s]

---

Etymology

Origin of pros and cons

C16: from Latin prō for + con, from contrā against

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pros and cons

This gives United a level of unpredictability which comes with pros and cons.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

But the three experts Mr. Warsh has chosen to lead the panel suggest he wants serious debate about the pros and cons of doing so.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

Mixed messages may actually be beneficial, because they makes all sides — administrators, professors and students — consider the pros and cons of AI’s rise, he noted.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026

After fretting and weighing the pros and cons, I eventually caved and decided to start mine young.

From Slate ● Jun. 20, 2026

During that long summer I’d been over and over the various arguments, all the pros and cons, and it was no longer a question that could be decided by an act of pure reason.

From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien