Synonyms of make-or-break

make-or-break

adjective

as in crucial

resulting in either definite success or definite failure

a make-or-break decision

The next year will be a make-or-break time for the company.

Related Words

• crucial
• critical
• pivotal
• watershed
• climactic
• apocalyptic
• go-no-go
• highest
• life-and-death
• climacteric
• culminating
• crowning
• fateful
• momentous
• decisive
• vital
• epochal
• apical
• crossover
• crestal
• meridian
• high
• deciding
• earthshaking
• apogean
• payoff
• cataclysmal

Dissimilar Words

• trivial
• unimportant
• insignificant
• inconsequential
• anticlimactic
• indecisive
• noncritical

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of make-or-break

The bulk of this final season has the team dealing with this massive storm that’s created a slew of setbacks at a make-or-break moment for the restaurant. — Yvonne Villarreal, Los Angeles Times, 26 June 2026

This includes his understanding that his spotlight episode on The Diplomat was make-or-break for his future on the show. — David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 22 June 2026

In what could be a make-or-break season with the Jets, Glenn says Sherwood has shown a sense of urgency, as many of his players have after registering a 3-14 season in 2025. — Antwan Staley, New York Daily News, 10 June 2026

The film, adapted from a play with the same title, covers the tense, make-or-break forecasting and decision-making that happened in the 72 hours before the first troops set foot on Normandy’s beaches. — Andrea Thompson, Scientific American, 29 May 2026