What is a trade-off? A trade-off is an exchange of one thing for another. A trade-off can be literal, involving physical items, like in a lunch trade-off, where you get your friend’s lunch and they get yours. A trade-off can also be figurative, as when you have to stay home because you’re sick but the trade-off is you get to stay in bed all day. In this sense, a trade-off is a kind of compromise. Example: The big trade-off to running a marathon is getting to eat a lot of pasta!
First recorded in 1960–65; noun use of verb phrase trade off
How does trade-off compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
A trade-off is a kind of compromise that involves giving up something in return for getting something else. When looking you for an after-school job, you might have to make a trade-off: a lower hourly wage for a more convenient location, for example. There are all kinds of trade-offs: one trade-off might be buying a new laptop that's very lightweight and portable but doesn't have as much memory as you wish it had. In economics, a trade-off is defined as an "opportunity cost." For example, you might take a day off work to go to a concert, gaining the opportunity of seeing your favorite band, while losing a day's wages as the cost for that opportunity.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It's a kind of evolutionary trade-off: A very complex song provides a lot of information, but it is difficult to transmit that information over long distances in complex environments.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
It’s a trade-off: Keep working to earn extra money and continue paying into the Social Security system, or stop working and survive on just your Social Security benefits and any other income.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
But the risk of getting trapped isn’t the only trade-off with semiliquid funds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
The trade-off for markets, and indeed for the economy as a whole, is whether a Warsh-led Fed, and its pursuit of independence, can navigate the thicket of complexity expected over the coming year.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
He was certainly uncomfortable, but the trade-off was already worth it.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
Moving the softball and canoe slalom events outside of Southern California is a trade off though.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2026
To investigate whether this trade off was unavoidable, the Cambridge researchers intentionally created what they expected to be a poorly performing system.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 6, 2026
Speaking in the Commons after the arrests, security minister Dan Jarvis said the UK would not "trade off security for economic access".
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2026
That is a trade off the company is willing to make as it expects its bet on safety to pay off in the long run as users start having better interactions on their apps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2025
“We’ll trade off, you, then me, then you, then me. Then we’ll do the other side.”
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
Ms. Aviv also uses one woman’s experience as a way of delving into the bruising trade-offs of Filipino women who work as nannies overseas so that their own children, motherless at home, have spending money.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Your daughter is old enough to learn about trade-offs.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
Reforming the historic structure of multimember agencies will entail trade-offs but is worth considering as this new landscape takes shape.
From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026
Human hands on a mixer, making trade-offs in real time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
It's all bad trade-offs these days, unless, like me, you know how to mostly end up on the profitable side of things.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
