opportunity cost

[ op-er-too-ni-tee kawst ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, Economics.

the money or other benefits lost when pursuing a particular course of action instead of a mutually-exclusive alternative:
The company cannot afford the opportunity cost attached to policy decisions made by the current CEO.

opportunity cost

noun

economics the benefit that could have been gained from an alternative use of the same resource

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Word History and Origins

Origin of opportunity cost¹

First recorded in 1910–15

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Compare Meanings

How does opportunity cost compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

trade-off vs. opportunity cost

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Example Sentences

They actually also say that how you judge the value of what you’re doing is not only based on what you’re doing, but it’s also based on opportunity cost.

From Freakonomics

Because there’s a significant opportunity cost of not asking such questions.

From Freakonomics

Just think of all the opportunity cost of decreasing that novelty-seeking.

From Freakonomics

When they have the alerts on, they start thinking about the opportunity cost of that leisure.

From Nautilus

On the other hand, if we think about it economically, you think about opportunity costs.

From Freakonomics

First, the opportunity cost of the conflict, which is not widely appreciated.

From The Daily Beast

One would think Israelis would understand the opportunity cost, and moral hazard, of denying these things to Palestinians.

From The Daily Beast

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April 18, 2024petrichor

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