win-win

• IPA^(key): /ˌwɪnˈwɪn/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

win-win

1. (of a situation or outcome) That benefits both or all parties, or that has two distinct benefits. [from 1960s]
   • 1962, Joel David Singer, Deterrence, arms control, and disarmament:

     In zero-sum games, every win for one side is a loss for the other ; there can be no such thing as a "win-win" outcome

   • 1962, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations, Department of Defense appropriations for ...: Part 3:

     Has the shifting policy of win-win to win-hold-win and back to win-win had an impact on your munitions requirements determinations?

   • 1966, Justin Paul, International Marketing: Text And Cases, page 175:

     2. Win-Win The best partnership

   • 1974, Taylor McConnell, Group leadership for self-realization:

     A Win/Win Approach to Conflict / An integrative approach to conflict has such obvious merit for a group that it is worth spending some time looking at how it works

   • 2021 December 1, Barry Doe, “A new start as Fabrik to produce the NRT files”, in RAIL, number 945, page 63:

     At the time of writing, I have not seen the finished product, but I nevertheless think this is a win-win situation for Network Rail, operators, Fabrik and, of course, others.

• zero-sum

win-win

1. A situation that benefits both or all parties, or that has two distinct benefits.

   Coordinate terms: lose-lose, zero-sum

   If you treated one person better than the other, there wouldn't be a win-win.

   • 2024 October 30, Paul Clifton, “How can freight be a major part of rail's future?”, in RAIL, number 1021, page 57:

     "It's a lose-lose situation. It can be turned into a win-win. We should be encouraging and supporting expensive bi-mode freight locomotives, especially where capacity is constrained.

• → Danish: win-win-situation
• → Finnish: win-win
• → Italian: win-win
• Norwegian:

Bokmål: → Norwegian Bokmål: vinn-vinn

Nynorsk: → Norwegian Nynorsk: vinn-vinn

• game theory
• zero-sum game

• “win-win”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

• win-win game on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Unadapted borrowing from English win-win.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwinˌwin/, [ˈwinˌwin]
• IPA^(key): /ˈʋinˌʋin/, [ˈʋinˌʋin]
• Rhymes: -in
• Syllabification^(key): win‧win

win-win (informal)

1. win-win

This term only appears in uninflected form in Finnish, notably as modifier in win-win-tilanne (“win-win situation”). Some independent usage also exists, but often the term is explained in such context:

Tilanne on win-win - molemmat voittavat.

The situation is win-win - both parties win.

Unadapted borrowing from English win-win.

win-win (invariable)

1. win-win