break even

See also: breakeven and break-even

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

break even (third-person singular simple present breaks even, present participle breaking even, simple past broke even, past participle broken even)

1. (idiomatic) To neither gain nor lose money.

   After an entire night playing poker, he nearly broke even.

   • 2023 March 8, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, number 978, page 43:

     The BTC had no clear plan how to fulfil its remit to break even, year-on-year.

2. (idiomatic) To stay the same; to neither advance nor regress.

   It's a lot of work just to break even and keep the weeds down.

Derived terms

• break-even
• break-even point
• break-even time

Translations

to neither gain nor lose money

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不賠不賺／不赔不赚 (bùpéibùzhuàn), 保本 (zh) (bǎoběn)

• Finnish: olla omillaan, päästä omilleen; breikata (fi) (informal)
• French: rentrer dans ses frais
• German: mit plus/minus null rauskommen
• Swedish: gå jämnt ut

to stay the same

• Finnish: pysyä ennallaan, pysyä paikallaan
• French: ne pas changer d’un iota
• German: den Ist-Zustand bewahren

See also

• pay for itself
• wash its face