break even

See also: breakeven and break-even

English

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Verb

break even (third-person singular simple present breaks even, present participle breaking even, simple past broke even, past participle broken even)

(idiomatic) To neither gain nor lose money.
After an entire night playing poker, he nearly broke even.
(idiomatic) To stay the same; to neither advance nor regress.
It's a lot of work just to break even and keep the weeds down.

Derived terms

break-even
break-even point

Translations

to neither gain nor lose money

Chinese:
Mandarin: 不賠不賺／不赔不赚 (bùpéibùzhuàn), 保本 (zh) (bǎoběn)
Finnish: olla omillaan, päästä omilleen; breikata (fi) (informal)
French: rentrer dans ses frais
German: mit plus/minus null rauskommen

to stay the same

Finnish: pysyä ennallaan, pysyä paikallaan
French: ne pas changer d'un iota
German: den Ist-Zustand bewahren