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Business English vocabulary · Numbers and Money

Sunk cost

Meaning in business english, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In business english, sunk cost means: Money or resources already spent that cannot be recovered.

In Turkish: batık maliyet, geri kazanılamayan maliyet

How it is used

Used when assessing future choices. Distinguish unrecoverable past spending from costs that can still be avoided or recovered.

Example sentences

  1. The non-refundable design fee is a sunk cost whether we launch the product or cancel it.

    Neither future option changes the recoverability of the fee already paid.

  2. Do not describe the unused equipment as a sunk cost before checking whether it can be sold.

    A resale value may allow part of the spending to be recovered.

Common collocations

  • recognize a sunk cost
  • a sunk cost argument
  • budgetThe amount of money that a company, team or project plans to spend over a period of time, or the plan that shows this.
  • trade-offA situation in which you accept less of one thing in order to get more of another, such as a lower price for a longer contract.

More terms: Numbers and Money

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