win-win

English

WOTD – 9 March 2012

Adjective

win-win

1. (of a situation or outcome) That benefits both or all parties, or that has two distinct benefits.

   The internship requirement for graduation has proved to be a win-win venture.

   • 1962, Joel David Singer, Deterrence, arms control, and disarmament:

     In zero-sum games, every win for one side is a loss for the other ; there can be no such thing as a "win-win" outcome

   • 1962, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations, Department of Defense appropriations for ...: Part 3:

     Has the shifting policy of win-win to win-hold-win and back to win-win had an impact on your munitions requirements determinations?

   • 1966, Justin Paul, International Marketing: Text And Cases, page 175:

     2. Win-Win The best partnership

   • 1974, Taylor McConnell, Group leadership for self-realization:

     A Win/Win Approach to Conflict / An integrative approach to conflict has such obvious merit for a group that it is worth spending some time looking at how it works

Translations

of a situation that benefits two parties

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雙贏／双赢 (zh) (shuāngyíng), 双赢 (zh) (shuāngyíng)

• Danish: win-win-situation c
• Dutch: win-win
• Finnish: molempia hyödyttävä, win-win
• French: gagnant-gagnant (fr)
• German: zum beiderseitigen Vorteil, Doppelsieg (de), Win-Win
• Greek: όλοι κερδισμένοι (óloi kerdisménoi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: mindkét fél számára előnyös/kedvező/nyerő, win-win
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vinn-vinn

  Nynorsk: vinn-vinn

• Portuguese: em que todos saem ganhando, em que todos ganham
• Russian: беспро́игрышный (ru) (bespróigryšnyj), взаимовы́годный (ru) (vzaimovýgodnyj)
• Spanish: todos ganan m

Noun

win-win

1. A situation that benefits both or all parties, or that has two distinct benefits

   Coordinate terms: lose-lose, zero-sum

   If you treated one person better than the other, there wouldn't be a win-win.

Translations

situation that benefits both parties

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雙贏局面／双赢局面, 双赢局面 (shuāngyíngjúmiàn)

• Finnish: yhteisvoitto, win-win-tilanne
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: mindkét fél számára előnyös helyzet
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• game theory
• zero-sum game

Further reading

• win-win game on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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Finnish

Adjective

win-win (not comparable)

1. win-win

Usage notes

This term only appears in uninflected form in Finnish, notably as modifier in win-win-tilanne (“win-win situation”). Some independent usage also exists, but often the term is explained in such context:

Tilanne on win-win - molemmat voittavat.

The situation is win-win - both parties win.

Derived terms

• win-win-tilanne