How to Use zero-sum in a Sentence

zero-sum

adjective
  • In the end, the flow of water and sediment is a zero-sum game.
    Daniel A. Gross, The New Yorker, 5 Nov. 2023
  • The zero-sum game of it all seems to be a part of the music industry where there’s this rapaciousness to it.
    Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, 6 Aug. 2024
  • Only in the last few decades have the two become locked in a zero-sum relationship, where a gain for one side is seen as a loss for the other.
    Robert J. Spitzer, Time, 6 June 2023
  • In an extremely zero-sum economy, that might be the end state.
    Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 17 Sep. 2024
  • Thankfully, this isn't a zero-sum game—the manual-transmission M3 didn't need to die so that the XM could live.
    Ezra Dyer, Car and Driver, 30 June 2023
  • And adopting a Cold War–style, zero-sum framework, in which the rest of the world is forced to choose sides, only reinforces this dynamic.
    Blaise Malley, The New Republic, 5 Oct. 2023
  • The notion of good coming from bad is a romantic one, but the reality isn’t a zero-sum game.
    Elise Hannum, The Atlantic, 20 June 2024
  • China and the United States both see AI development as a zero-sum game.
    Ian Bremmer and Mustafa Suleyman, Foreign Affairs, 16 Aug. 2023
  • Aim for a zero-sum spending plan, where every dollar earned is assigned a role, whether that is savings, bills, or wants.
    Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 23 May 2024
  • In a zero-sum game, parity is the enemy of playoff berths and top-25 rankings.
    Jon Wilner | , oregonlive, 3 Sep. 2023
  • But in most cases, the competition seems more zero-sum.
    Eshe Nelson, New York Times, 7 Dec. 2023
  • The intransigence of such zero-sum disputes is a reminder of why win-win fantasies are so attractive in the first place.
    Jennifer Szalai, New York Times, 8 June 2024
  • The Israelis are still stuck in a zero-sum game, while many Arab states have moved toward accommodation.
    David Ignatius, Washington Post, 31 July 2024
  • That zero-sum trade off is particularly acute in places where few new homes are being built.
    Calmatters, Orange County Register, 7 Mar. 2024
  • But this isn’t a zero-sum game; renaming something is not an attack on anyone.
    Phil Plait, Scientific American, 11 June 2024
  • Voting isn’t merely a zero-sum game that ends with the winners crowing over their victory and the losers slinking away in defeat.
    Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 5 Mar. 2024
  • Liberty and justice teach that politics should not be a zero-sum game, i.e., what one side gains the other side loses.
    Armstrong Williams, Baltimore Sun, 14 Apr. 2024
  • The basic issue here is that nasa's funding is a zero-sum game, so cost overruns in one mission affect other projects.
    Phil Plait, Scientific American, 30 Oct. 2023
  • In evolution, competition is thought to be a zero-sum game.
    Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 17 Apr. 2024
  • There’s the zero-sum racial hierarchy—this zero-sum framework that says that progress for people of color has to come at white folks’ expense.
    How To Save A Country, The New Republic, 20 Apr. 2023
  • This frustrating zero-sum aspect of property taxes wouldn’t make for such a crisis if the tax levies themselves weren’t so high.
    The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 13 Sep. 2024
  • Still, competition need not be a zero-sum game, and rivals and even OpenAI itself might find a way to use the episode to expand their business in a growing market.
    Steven Rosenbush, WSJ, 6 Dec. 2023
  • Walking into a situation with a zero-sum approach may leave you winning the battle but losing the war.
    Expert Panel®, Forbes, 23 Mar. 2023
  • Who could have guessed that pandering to extremists while courting moderates would be a zero-sum game?
    Kyle Whitmire | Kwhitmire@al.com, al, 5 Aug. 2023
  • There must emerge a better idea, a more attractive idea—an idea that does not assume Jews and Arabs are locked in a zero-sum game in the Middle East but offers a win-win scenario to people on both sides.
    Ami Ayalon, Foreign Affairs, 31 Oct. 2023
  • Admissions are zero-sum, and so the increase of some groups’ admissions must result in the decrease of other groups’ admissions.
    Jeannie Suk Gersen, The New Yorker, 26 June 2023
  • People close to Trump have a zero-sum view of the economy, in which every job taken by someone born outside the United States is a job taken away from someone born here.
    Paul Krugman, The Mercury News, 8 Feb. 2024
  • Commercial bank reserves are used mainly for settlement between banks, but this is a zero-sum game.
    WSJ, 31 Oct. 2023
  • The new dining spot mines the talents of two of Baltimore’s most dynamic Black restaurateurs, proving success doesn’t need to be a zero-sum game, Simon said.
    Amanda Yeager, Baltimore Sun, 1 Feb. 2024
  • When combined with zero-sum perceptions, this is a recipe for polarization and conflict.
    TIME, 3 Feb. 2024

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

Last Updated: