sunk costn.

Brit.

/ˌsʌŋk ˈkɒst/, U.S.

/ˌsəŋk ˈkɔst/,

/ˌsəŋk ˈkɑst/

Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: sunk adj., cost n.³

Etymology: < sunk adj. + cost n.³

Economics. Financial outlay which has already been incurred and cannot be recovered; a cost which is unavoidable when embarking upon a particular commercial endeavour. Frequently in plural.

ΚΠ

1910 I. Fisher Introd. Econ. Sci. xvii. 296 When any business involves a large sunk cost.., competition becomes of the cutthroat kind.

1916 H. G. Brown Transportation Rates & their Regulation i. 11 These sunk costs represent the amounts already invested in terminals, way, construction, and equipment.

1999 Financial Times 1 Nov. (Mastering Strategy Suppl.) 10/3 The simple decision rule for a potential entrant is this: enter the market if the post-entry profits are expected to be greater than the sunk costs of entering.

Compounds

attributive. Used in psychology and behavioural economics with reference to a reluctance to abandon a strategy or course of action in which one has already invested heavily even when it is clear that abandonment is rationally the correct response, as sunk-cost effect, sunk-cost fallacy, etc.

ΚΠ

1968 Columbia Law Rev. 68 645 Related to the Commission's sunk cost fallacy is its joint cost fallacy.

1981 A. Tversky & D. Kahneman in Science 30 Jan. 457/1 A sunk-cost effect arises when a decision is referred to an existing account in which the current balance is negative.

2008 Philadelphia Inquirer (Nexis) 18 Feb. c1 Worse yet is the so-called sunk-cost effect—ruinous to your stock portfolio, your love life and your poker game.

2010 New Yorker 18 Oct. 28/2 The familiar sunk-cost fallacy made things worse.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	sunk cost
释义	sunk costn. Brit. /ˌsʌŋk ˈkɒst/, U.S. /ˌsəŋk ˈkɔst/, /ˌsəŋk ˈkɑst/ Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: sunk adj., cost n.³ Etymology: < sunk adj. + cost n.³ Economics. Financial outlay which has already been incurred and cannot be recovered; a cost which is unavoidable when embarking upon a particular commercial endeavour. Frequently in plural. ΚΠ 1910 I. Fisher Introd. Econ. Sci. xvii. 296 When any business involves a large sunk cost.., competition becomes of the cutthroat kind. 1916 H. G. Brown Transportation Rates & their Regulation i. 11 These sunk costs represent the amounts already invested in terminals, way, construction, and equipment. 1999 Financial Times 1 Nov. (Mastering Strategy Suppl.) 10/3 The simple decision rule for a potential entrant is this: enter the market if the post-entry profits are expected to be greater than the sunk costs of entering. Compounds attributive. Used in psychology and behavioural economics with reference to a reluctance to abandon a strategy or course of action in which one has already invested heavily even when it is clear that abandonment is rationally the correct response, as sunk-cost effect, sunk-cost fallacy, etc. ΚΠ 1968 Columbia Law Rev. 68 645 Related to the Commission's sunk cost fallacy is its joint cost fallacy. 1981 A. Tversky & D. Kahneman in Science 30 Jan. 457/1 A sunk-cost effect arises when a decision is referred to an existing account in which the current balance is negative. 2008 Philadelphia Inquirer (Nexis) 18 Feb. c1 Worse yet is the so-called sunk-cost effect—ruinous to your stock portfolio, your love life and your poker game. 2010 New Yorker 18 Oct. 28/2 The familiar sunk-cost fallacy made things worse. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.1910
随便看	to look about to look about one to look adoyle to look after to look after number one to look after one's fences to look again to look against to look againward to look ahead to look alive to look aloft to look alow to look around to look as to look as if to look as if one came out of a bandbox to look as though to look aside to look askance to look askew to look at to look at etc to look at her to look at him