1
: a balancing of factors all of which are not attainable at the same time
Governments face a trade-off between privacy and increasing the effectiveness of tax collection.—
Ricardo Perez-Truglia and Ugo Troiano
Ricardo Perez-Truglia and Ugo Troiano2
: 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
Bridging micro and nano gaps Microscopy has advanced significantly over the centuries, but modern tools still face trade-offs.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 14 Nov. 2025
There's not a perfect stage in life—there’s always trade-offs.
—Angela Haupt, Time, 14 Nov. 2025
To me, the occasional early wake-up call or late-night call or messy inbox is worth it for the trade-off to make GQ as global as possible.
—Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 14 Nov. 2025
The trade-off is that Residential 100Mbps caps the download speed to 100Mbps.
—PC Magazine, 14 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for trade-off
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 14 Nov. 2025
There's not a perfect stage in life—there’s always trade-offs.
—Angela Haupt, Time, 14 Nov. 2025
To me, the occasional early wake-up call or late-night call or messy inbox is worth it for the trade-off to make GQ as global as possible.
—Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 14 Nov. 2025
The trade-off is that Residential 100Mbps caps the download speed to 100Mbps.
—PC Magazine, 14 Nov. 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 16 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share