noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:T R EY1 D AO2 F
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
Any situation in which the quality or quantity of one thing must be decreased for another to be increased.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
In writing, there's often a trade-off between being concise and being complete.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
an exchange that occurs as a compromise
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
I faced a tradeoff between eating and buying my medicine
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: tradeoff
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: exchange, interchange
History
Etymology
Deverbal from trade off.
Across languages
Translations
32 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Chinese Mandarin:
折衷
(zhézhōng)
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Chinese Mandarin:
妥協 /妥协
(tuǒxié)
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Chinese Mandarin:
取舍
(qǔshě)
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Dutch:
compromis
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Finnish:
kompromissi
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Finnish:
valinta
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Finnish:
vaihtokauppa
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
French:
compromis
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
German:
Kompromiss
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
German:
Trade-off
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
German:
Ausgleich
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
German:
Abwägung
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
German:
Zielkonflikt
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Greek:
αντιστάθμιση
(antistáthmisi)
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Greek:
αντιστάθμισμα
(antistáthmisma)
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Hungarian:
kompromisszum
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Icelandic:
fórnarkostir
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Icelandic:
fórnarskipti
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Japanese:
トレードオフ
(torēdoofu)
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Japanese:
妥協
(dakyō)
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Macedonian:
компромис
(kompromis)
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Norwegian Bokmål:
avveining
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Norwegian Bokmål:
balansegang
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Polish:
kompromis
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Portuguese:
contraparte
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Portuguese:
dilema
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Romanian:
compromis
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Russian:
компроми́сс
(kompromíss)
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Serbo-Croatian:
kompromis
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Spanish:
dilema
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Spanish:
sacrificio
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
Spanish:
disyuntiva
— situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased
