opportunity cost

opportunity cost

English

Noun

opportunity cost (plural opportunity costs)

1. (economics) The cost of an opportunity forgone (and the loss of the benefits that could be received from that opportunity); the most valuable forgone alternative.
   • 2004, "Jeff Pillet-Shore: Second Year Winds Down," BusinessWeek, 7 Jun. (retrieved 30 Oct., 2008),

     Thanks to business school, I can understand how I've actually paid for this time at home with my family—the opportunity cost of my time, my forgone income, etc.

Related terms

• accounting cost

Translations

cost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone

Armenian: այլընտրանքային ծախս (ayləntrankʿayin caxs) Chinese: Mandarin: 機會成本 (zh), 机会成本 (zh) (jīhuì chéngběn) Czech: náklady obětované příležitosti m pl, náklady ušlé příležitosti m pl Finnish: vaihtoehtoiskustannus French: coût de renoncement m

German: Opportunitätskosten (de) pl Portuguese: please add this translation if you can Russian: альтернативные затраты f pl (alʹternativnyje zatraty), альтернативные изде́ржки f pl (alʹternativnyje izdéržki) Spanish: coste de oportunidad m Tagalog: ipinagpalibang halaga