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A situation where you cannot have both good things at once, so you give up some of one to get more of the other — and you accept that as a fair bargain. A cheaper flight with a long , a faster program that uses more memory, a job with better pay but longer hours: each of those is a trade-off.
A situation一種情況： where you cannot have both good things at once兩樣好東西你沒辦法同時全要， so you give up some of one所以你放掉一些這個， to get more of the other去換多一點那個—— and you accept that而且你接受這件事， as a fair bargain把它當成公平的交換。 A cheaper flight with a long stopover比較便宜但要停留轉機很久的航班、 a faster program that uses more memory比較快但吃更多記憶體的程式、 a job with better pay but longer hours薪水較好但工時較長的工作： each of those is a trade-off每一個都是 trade-off。
The heart of the word is the acceptance. You are not complaining and you are not being cheated; you have looked at both sides and chosen.
The heart of the word這個字的核心 is the acceptance是「接受」。 You are not complaining你不是在抱怨， and you are not being cheated也不是被騙了； you have looked at both sides你是兩邊都看過了， and chosen然後選了。
It is very common in business, engineering, science, and policy writing, but ordinary people say it too. Usual patterns: 'a trade-off between speed and accuracy', 'there's always a trade-off', 'you have to accept some trade-offs'.
It它 in business, engineering, science, and policy writing在商業、工程、科學和政策文章裡 is very common非常常見， but ordinary people say it too但一般人也會說。 Usual patterns常見句型： 'a trade-off between speed and accuracy'速度與準確之間的取捨、 'there's always a trade-off'總是要有取捨、 'you have to accept some trade-offs'你得接受一些取捨。
Written with a as a noun (Americans often write 'tradeoff' with none), and as two words when it's the verb: 'trade off cost against quality'. It is not automatically negative — a trade-off can be a good decision, well made.
as a noun當名詞時 Written with a hyphen寫成帶連字號（ Americans often write美國人常寫 'tradeoff' with none不帶連字號的 tradeoff ）， and as two words when it's the verb當動詞時就是兩個分開的字： 'trade off cost against quality'拿成本去換品質。 It is not automatically negative它不是自動就負面—— a trade-off一個取捨 can be a good decision, well made可以是個好決定、做得漂亮。
組成From the phrasal verb 'trade off' — to trade one thing off against another. The noun is that verb phrase frozen, with a hyphen added.
原始詞典資料1 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
trade-offnoun
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Any situation in which the quality or quantity of one thing must be decreased for another to be increased.
- In writing, there's often a trade-off between being concise and being complete.
- Individual episodes are still thrilling and often quite striking, give or take some pitch-black battle scenes. But the gradual ramping up of the plotting that has grown steadily in the past three seasons crossed some invisible Maginot line this year, where the formerly acceptable trade-offs of focus for fun are no longer quite so taken for granted.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。