Word.ws English Dictionary

zero-sum

zero-sum adjective: of a system, where all gains are offset by exactly equal losses. Also the ellipsis of zero-sum game.

Adjective

zero-sum (not comparable)

  1. Of a system, where all gains are offset by exactly equal losses.
    • Dalio is right, but somewhat self-serving. If hedge-fund managers are playing a zero-sum game, what is their social utility? […] Can it really be in America’s interest to have so much of its young talent playing a zero-sum game?2011 July 18, John Cassidy, “Mastering the Machine”, in The New Yorker, →ISSN
    • When disorder reigns, humanity tends toward an extraction system. This kind of existence is one of low trust and zero-sum, where people are replaceable, the past is overlooked, and those who react quickly prevail.2026 January 22, “The Myth that the World rewards Talent (or why current systems punish Virtue)”, in An Actor Explains, via Substack, archived from the original on 04 Feb 2026

Also used as

zero-sum is also the ellipsis of zero-sum game.

Forms of zero-sum

pluralzero-sums

Words formed from zero-sum

Phrases with zero-sum

Questions about zero-sum

What does zero-sum mean?
Zero-sum means of a system, where all gains are offset by exactly equal losses.
What part of speech is zero-sum?
Zero-sum is an adjective.

Words near zero-sum in the dictionary

  1. zero-rates
  2. zero-rating
  3. zero-shadow day
  4. zero-shot
  5. zero-shot learning
  6. zero-sum
  7. zero-sum game
  8. zero-sum games
  9. zero-till
  10. zero-tillage
  11. zero-tilled

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: zero-sum (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

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