idiom · neutral
break even
/breɪk ˈiːvən/break E·VEN
To have no profit and no loss; income equals expenses
Examples
“After a difficult year, the company finally broke even in December.”
“If sales pick up, the café should break even by the summer.”
“We invested a lot at first and only just managed to break even last quarter.”
Band 8 sentence
“With stricter cost control and a slight increase in demand, the small manufacturer managed to break even by the fourth quarter.”
Collocations
- break even in/by
- manage to break even
Word family
Common mistakes
We break the even last year.→We broke even last year.
They break-even the business now.→They break even in the business now.
Say it for a higher band
5not lose money→6not make profit→7+break even
Synonyms
have no profit
Easily confused
make a profit
“After several years, the company finally began to make a profit.”
Related words
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In Money
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