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.

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

Translations

to neither gain nor lose money

• Chinese:

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

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: olla omillaan, päästä omilleen; breikata (fi) (informal)
• French: rentrer dans ses frais

to stay the same

• Finnish: pysyä ennallaan, pysyä paikallaan
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: ne pas changer d’un iota