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

Jordan enters 2026 as a senior in a make-or-break campaign for his draft hopes. — Jim Reineking, USA Today, 27 Aug. 2026

Key Background Leerink Partners analyst Mani Foroohar wrote in June that Moderna’s late-stage cancer vaccine trial would be a make-or-break event for its stock, with the potential for the experimental drug to work across multiple types of cancer. — Ty Roush, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2026

But what comes after a peak is a make-or-break turn, one that’s broken many great artists before her. — Sidney Madden, VIBE.com, 19 Aug. 2026

This isn’t meant to be the make-or-break moment, just a way to narrow down your choices, according to the experts, since the real test happens in the bedroom. — Alexandra Emanuelli, Southern Living, 14 Aug. 2026