1
: a balancing of factors all of which are not attainable at the same time
the education versus experience trade-off which governs personnel practices—
H. S. White
H. S. White2
: a giving up of one thing in return for another : exchange
trade off
transitive verb
Synonyms
Examples of trade-off in a Sentence
a trade-off in which a company got a celebrity spokesperson and a fading star got some much-needed cash
Recent Examples on the Web
Still, different sampling and weighting techniques featured trade-offs and offered no silver bullets.
—Geoffrey Skelley, ABC News, 30 May 2024
Advertisement The trade-off is that campaigns can lose some control, because the influencers use their own language and may veer from the campaign’s message, especially if their followers post angry messages in the comment section.
—Noah Bierman, Los Angeles Times, 30 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for trade-off 
Geoffrey Skelley, ABC News, 30 May 2024
Advertisement The trade-off is that campaigns can lose some control, because the influencers use their own language and may veer from the campaign’s message, especially if their followers post angry messages in the comment section.
—Noah Bierman, Los Angeles Times, 30 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for trade-off
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'trade-off.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near trade-off
Cite this Entry
“Trade-off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trade-off. Accessed 6 Jun. 2024.
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