"break even" meaning in English

See break even in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-break even.ogg Forms: breaks even [present, singular, third-person], breaking even [participle, present], broke even [past], broken even [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|break<,,broke,broken> even}} 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. Tags: idiomatic Translations (to neither gain nor lose money): 不賠不賺 (Chinese Mandarin), 不赔不赚 (bùpéibùzhuàn) (Chinese Mandarin), 保本 (bǎoběn) (Chinese Mandarin), olla omillaan (Finnish), päästä omilleen (Finnish), breikata [informal] (Finnish), rentrer dans ses frais (French), mit plus/minus null rauskommen (German), gå jämnt ut (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-break_even-en-verb-vGzNe~u- Disambiguation of 'to neither gain nor lose money': 87 13
  2. (idiomatic) To stay the same; to neither advance nor regress. Tags: idiomatic Translations (to stay the same): pysyä ennallaan (Finnish), pysyä paikallaan (Finnish), ne pas changer d’un iota (French), den Ist-Zustand bewahren (German)
    Sense id: en-break_even-en-verb-6Mq2ozsg Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English light verb constructions, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Mandarin translations, Terms with Swedish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 20 80 Disambiguation of English light verb constructions: 21 79 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 21 79 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 13 87 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 19 81 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 24 76 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 27 73 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 24 76 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 29 71 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 24 76 Disambiguation of 'to stay the same': 5 95
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: break-even, break-even point, break-even time Related terms: pay for itself, wash its face

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "break-even"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "break-even point"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "break-even time"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "breaks even",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "breaking even",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broke even",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broken even",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "break<,,broke,broken> even"
      },
      "expansion": "break even (third-person singular simple present breaks even, present participle breaking even, simple past broke even, past participle broken even)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "pay for itself"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "wash its face"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "After an entire night playing poker, he nearly broke even.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 March 8, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, number 978, page 43:",
          "text": "The BTC had no clear plan how to fulfil its remit to break even, year-on-year.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To neither gain nor lose money."
      ],
      "id": "en-break_even-en-verb-vGzNe~u-",
      "links": [
        [
          "gain",
          "gain"
        ],
        [
          "lose",
          "lose"
        ],
        [
          "money",
          "money"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To neither gain nor lose money."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
          "word": "不賠不賺"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "bùpéibùzhuàn",
          "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
          "word": "不赔不赚"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "bǎoběn",
          "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
          "word": "保本"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
          "word": "olla omillaan"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
          "word": "päästä omilleen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
          "tags": [
            "informal"
          ],
          "word": "breikata"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
          "word": "rentrer dans ses frais"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
          "word": "mit plus/minus null rauskommen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
          "word": "gå jämnt ut"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "20 80",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "21 79",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English light verb constructions",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "21 79",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "13 87",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "19 81",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "24 76",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "27 73",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "24 76",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "29 71",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "24 76",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "It's a lot of work just to break even and keep the weeds down.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To stay the same; to neither advance nor regress."
      ],
      "id": "en-break_even-en-verb-6Mq2ozsg",
      "links": [
        [
          "advance",
          "advance"
        ],
        [
          "regress",
          "regress"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To stay the same; to neither advance nor regress."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "5 95",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to stay the same",
          "word": "pysyä ennallaan"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "5 95",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to stay the same",
          "word": "pysyä paikallaan"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "5 95",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to stay the same",
          "word": "ne pas changer d’un iota"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "5 95",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to stay the same",
          "word": "den Ist-Zustand bewahren"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-break even.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d8/En-au-break_even.ogg/En-au-break_even.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/En-au-break_even.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "break even"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English light verb constructions",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Mandarin translations",
    "Terms with Swedish translations"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "break-even"
    },
    {
      "word": "break-even point"
    },
    {
      "word": "break-even time"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "breaks even",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "breaking even",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broke even",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broken even",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "break<,,broke,broken> even"
      },
      "expansion": "break even (third-person singular simple present breaks even, present participle breaking even, simple past broke even, past participle broken even)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "pay for itself"
    },
    {
      "word": "wash its face"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "After an entire night playing poker, he nearly broke even.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 March 8, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, number 978, page 43:",
          "text": "The BTC had no clear plan how to fulfil its remit to break even, year-on-year.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To neither gain nor lose money."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "gain",
          "gain"
        ],
        [
          "lose",
          "lose"
        ],
        [
          "money",
          "money"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To neither gain nor lose money."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "It's a lot of work just to break even and keep the weeds down.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To stay the same; to neither advance nor regress."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "advance",
          "advance"
        ],
        [
          "regress",
          "regress"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To stay the same; to neither advance nor regress."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-break even.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d8/En-au-break_even.ogg/En-au-break_even.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/En-au-break_even.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
      "word": "不賠不賺"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "bùpéibùzhuàn",
      "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
      "word": "不赔不赚"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "bǎoběn",
      "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
      "word": "保本"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
      "word": "olla omillaan"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
      "word": "päästä omilleen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "word": "breikata"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
      "word": "rentrer dans ses frais"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
      "word": "mit plus/minus null rauskommen"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to neither gain nor lose money",
      "word": "gå jämnt ut"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to stay the same",
      "word": "pysyä ennallaan"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to stay the same",
      "word": "pysyä paikallaan"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to stay the same",
      "word": "ne pas changer d’un iota"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to stay the same",
      "word": "den Ist-Zustand bewahren"
    }
  ],
  "word": "break even"
}

Download raw JSONL data for break even meaning in English (3.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.