How to Use trade-off in a Sentence

trade-off

noun
  • The trade-off does come at a cost — or rather a lack of one.
    — Stefanie Waldek, Travel + Leisure, 15 Nov. 2023
  • Of course, there have been trade-offs for the men behind the masks.
    — Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 5 Dec. 2024
  • The trade-off is that they're designed to last for a long time.
    — Good Housekeeping, 24 Aug. 2023
  • The speed of construction is a trade-off for the high cost.
    — Gary Warth, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 July 2023
  • For Martinez, the trade-off has been more than worth it.
    — Victoria Hernandez, USA TODAY, 26 Feb. 2023
  • All this, of course, comes with downsides and trade-offs.
    — Kurt Knutsson, Cyberguy Report, Fox News, 5 Feb. 2025
  • The trade-off is that grid fleece is much less effective in the wind.
    — Scott Gilbertson, Wired News, 18 Apr. 2025
  • But locals say the bargain prices and charms make the trade-offs worth it.
    — Defne Karabatur, Los Angeles Times, 30 Dec. 2024
  • The trade-off for this ease of use is that service can get weird at some point.
    — Chris Cona, ArsTechnica, 9 Apr. 2025
  • But for the price, these trade-offs are well worth it for such a gorgeous berry shade.
    — Sara Gaynes Levy, Peoplemag, 17 Nov. 2023
  • That was the trade-off Ohtani sought in hopes of helping the Dodgers add more talent around him.
    — Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2023
  • Cass: But is there some kind of trade-off being made here?
    — Stephen Cass, IEEE Spectrum, 20 Mar. 2024
  • One major trade-off for speed has to do with how much stuff is on board.
    — Eva Botkin-Kowacki, Popular Science, 21 Feb. 2023
  • The trade-off for the cheaper prices comes in slower shipping speeds.
    — Katie Tarasov,devan Burris, CNBC, 22 Dec. 2024
  • That’s quite a trade-off — and great fodder for stories.
    — Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 26 June 2024
  • That's a trade-off that pitchers have grappled with early in the spring.
    — Alanis Thames, ajc, 2 Mar. 2023
  • The trade-off is that many offer a narrow window on the world, maybe an inch high.
    — David Kelly, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2023
  • The very best high-yield savings rates often come with trade-offs.
    — Martha C. White, wsj.com, 2 Oct. 2023
  • But their usage also points to a grim trade-off in the 18-month conflict.
    — Eric Schmitt, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2023
  • The trade-offs for the C125 MF's low price are slower print speed and steeper toner costs.
    — David English, PCMAG, 4 July 2024
  • The idea — pushed by some real estate agents — was supposed to be a trade-off.
    — Andrew Khouri, Los Angeles Times, 24 Apr. 2024
  • The trade-off for the weather is that animals are easier to spot thanks to the snow.
    — Megan Dubois, Chron, 19 Mar. 2023
  • Everything done in the field is a trade-off among these three factors.
    — Michael Justin Allen Sexton, PCMAG, 15 Jan. 2025
  • It would be based on a trade-off between things each side clearly wants.
    — Ned Temko, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Mar. 2024
  • Free Wix comes with trade-offs, such as ads and limited tools.
    — PCMAG, 30 Apr. 2024
  • Whether this was a worthy trade-off is the question that Kissinger’s legacy leaves us with.
    — Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 1 May 2025
  • The trade-offs wouldn’t be so stark if people were willing to change their lifestyles.
    — F.d. Flam, Twin Cities, 4 Aug. 2024
  • Boers didn’t like the trade-off, because an assumption can of course be wrong.
    — Sandra Upson, WIRED, 25 July 2024
  • Speed, security and stability don’t have to be trade-offs.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 16 May 2025
  • Many users aren’t interested in a touch screen for general computing, so the reflection annoyances aren’t worth the trade-off to plenty of shoppers.
    — Matthew Buzzi, PC Magazine, 16 May 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'trade-off.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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