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
• In the absolute, this becomes a zero-sum game: automate one job, put one worker out of work, maybe more.
  — Eli Amdur, Forbes, 5 Oct. 2024
• 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
• The zero-sum logic of expanding the availability of suicide for some, to free up resources for others, will take on a life of its own.
  — The Editors, National Review, 27 Nov. 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
• As president, Harris would need to convince the next generation that progress is not a zero-sum game.
  — Linda Robinson, Foreign Affairs, 31 Oct. 2024
• 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 | [e-mail], 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
• The new reality is a zero-sum game, in which the winners are individuals, not even countries or peoples.
  — Elizabeth Shackelford, Chicago Tribune, 15 Nov. 2024

Last Updated: 20 Dec 2024