break even
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
They would definitely, at least, break even, and it did come to bear a few times.
Darlington's gates are 20 per cent down on last season and well below a break - even figure of 4,000.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review.
Common questions
What does “break even” mean?
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Is “break even” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.