opportunity cost

noun

The cost of an opportunity forgone (and the loss of the benefits that could be received from that opportunity); the most valuable forgone alternative.

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Meanings

nounopportunity cost (plural opportunity costs)

plural opportunity costs

  1. economicsThe cost of an opportunity forgone (and the loss of the benefits that could be received from that opportunity); the most valuable forgone alternative.

    Thanks to business school, I can understand how I've actually paid for this time at home with my family—the opportunity cost of my time, my forgone income, etc.

    2004 June 7, “Jeff Pillet-Shore: Second Year Winds Down”, in BusinessWeek, archived from the original on 08 Mar 2005, retrieved 30 Oct 2008
    1 more example

    Implicit in this fixation with time is the thesis that the opportunity cost of regular shopping is too high – that the hours spent driving to the better bookstore in the next town can be spent doing something more valuable. […] But as our urban lives have grown more pressed for time, we have diced our opportunity costs finer and finer; from budgeting days or slabs of hours, we have come to rationing minutes.

    2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 06 Apr 2020

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 機會成本 /机会成本
  • 機會成本 /机会成本 (jīhuì chéngběn)cost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone
Czech náklady obětované příležitosti, náklady ušlé příležitosti
  • náklady obětované příležitosticost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone
  • náklady ušlé příležitosticost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone
Finnish vaihtoehtoiskustannus
  • vaihtoehtoiskustannuscost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone
French coût de renoncement, coût de renonciation
  • coût de renoncementcost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone
  • coût de renonciationcost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone
  • coût d'opportunitécost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone
German Opportunitätskosten
  • Opportunitätskostencost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone
Italian costo opportunità
  • costo opportunitàcost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone
Polish koszt alternatywny
  • koszt alternatywnycost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone
Russian альтернативные затраты, альтернативные изде́ржки
  • альтернативные затраты (alʹternativnyje zatraty)cost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone
  • альтернативные изде́ржки (alʹternativnyje izdéržki)cost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone
Spanish coste de oportunidad, costo alternativo
  • coste de oportunidadcost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone
  • costo alternativocost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone
Tagalog ipinagpalibang halaga
  • ipinagpalibang halagacost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone
Cite this entry
APA

opportunity cost. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/opportunity%20cost

MLA

“opportunity cost.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/opportunity%20cost. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “opportunity cost,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/opportunity%20cost.

Source: opportunity cost on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.