zero-sum
adjective
Did you know?
Does game theory sound like fun? It can be—if you are a mathematician or economist who needs to analyze a competitive situation in which the outcome is determined by the choices of the players and chance. Game theory was introduced by mathematician John von Neumann and economist Oskar Morgenstern in their 1944 book The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. In game theory, a zero-sum game is one, such as chess or checkers, where each player has a clear purpose that is completely opposed to that of the opponent. In economics, a situation is zero-sum if the gains of one party are exactly balanced by the losses of another and no net gain or loss is created. (Such situations are rare.)
Examples of zero-sum in a Sentence
Phil Plait, Scientific American, 11 June 2024
Addressing crime should not be a zero-sum equation.
—Andrew Sheeler, Sacramento Bee, 10 June 2024
The intransigence of such zero-sum disputes is a reminder of why win-win fantasies are so attractive in the first place.
—Jennifer Szalai, New York Times, 8 June 2024
Its foreign policy would become less principled, more zero-sum.
—Hal Brands, Foreign Affairs, 27 May 2024
Empathy exists in no small supply, and suffering is not zero-sum.
—Julia Jassey, New York Daily News, 20 Feb. 2024
Budgeting is at best a zero-sum game this year, and Beckham acknowledged that most or all of the additional money would come from the $150 million in enhanced education funding that was negotiated last year and scheduled to become available on July 1, the start of the next fiscal year.
—Keith M. Phaneuf, Hartford Courant, 1 Feb. 2024
If the divisions opened up by the protests were litigated in an endless back-and-forth of Title VI complaints, fought in the zero-sum realm of the law, then the school would fail at one of the oldest concepts in education: the moral development of its students.
—Charles Homans Gabra Zackman Anna Diamond Quinton Kamara, New York Times, 29 May 2024
Liberty and justice teach that politics should not be a zero-sum game, i.e., what one side gains the other side loses.
—Armstrong Williams, Baltimore Sun, 14 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'zero-sum.' 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 zero-sum
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“Zero-sum.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zero-sum. Accessed 19 Jun. 2024.
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