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
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
Those stark trade-offs are sparking fierce debate and some dissent from within the GOP’s ranks.
—Lily Mae Lazarus, Fortune, 1 July 2025
Despite the trade-offs mentioned above, a DIY approach can alleviate some lock-in anxiety by retaining architectural control.
—Rafael Flores, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
That leaves major questions unanswered: What were the U.S. trade-offs?
—Dewardric L. McNeal, CNBC, 29 June 2025
Surprising new work bucks 50 years of assumptions about the trade-offs between computation space and time
Once upon a time computers filled entire rooms, reading numbers from spinning tapes and churning them through wires to do chains of basic arithmetic.
—Max Springer, Scientific American, 27 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for trade-off
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Lily Mae Lazarus, Fortune, 1 July 2025
Despite the trade-offs mentioned above, a DIY approach can alleviate some lock-in anxiety by retaining architectural control.
—Rafael Flores, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
That leaves major questions unanswered: What were the U.S. trade-offs?
—Dewardric L. McNeal, CNBC, 29 June 2025
Surprising new work bucks 50 years of assumptions about the trade-offs between computation space and time
Once upon a time computers filled entire rooms, reading numbers from spinning tapes and churning them through wires to do chains of basic arithmetic.
—Max Springer, Scientific American, 27 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for trade-off
Cite this Entry
“Trade-off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trade-off. Accessed 6 Jul. 2025.
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