opportunity cost

noun

: the added cost of using resources (as for production or speculative investment) that is the difference between the actual value resulting from such use and that of an alternative (such as another use of the same resources or an investment of equal risk but greater return)

Examples of opportunity cost in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For this calculation, the institutional research department compared UC graduates’ earnings to out-of-pocket costs for their degrees and the opportunity costs of forgone wages of high school graduates of the same age. — Tarini Mehta, Sacbee.com, 2 July 2026

Excessive cash holdings, though comforting, incur an opportunity cost by missing out on market growth. — Andrew Rosen, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026

And there’s also the opportunity cost of giving up so much future trade capital in a market where first-round picks are overvalued. — Dom Luszczyszyn, New York Times, 26 June 2026

As with the scholarship tax credit, many also worry about the opportunity cost for government budgets that only stretch so far. — Theo Peck-Suzuki, Hartford Courant, 21 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1894, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for opportunity cost

• accost
• crisscrossed
• defrost
• embossed
• exhaust
• recrossed
• uncrossed
• bossed
• crossed
• dost
• glossed
• lost

Legal Definition

opportunity cost

noun

op·​por·​tu·​ni·​ty cost

: the cost of making an investment that is the difference between the return on one investment and the return on an alternative