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Business Word/Phrase of the Day

word-phrase-descEvery day we publish a business word or phrase together with audio pronunciation, phonetics, definition and example sentences. This is a great way to improve your workplace vocabulary as well as your pronunciation. To receive 'Business Word/Phrase of the Day' by email, just subscribe to our newsletter from the link above. 

TO FIRE SOMEONE faɪər sʌmˌwʌn

28 Aug 2022

Verb

  • to officially terminate somebody's employment; to make someone leave their job.
Example Sentences: He was so bad at handling customer complaints that in the end we had to fire him.
Andy got fired last week because he turned out to be the spy of our competitor.
 

TO PUT YOUR EGGS ALL IN ONE BASKET  

27 Aug 2022

Phrase

  • to choose one particular thing over another and not rely on several choices at the same time.
Example Sentence: He really put all his eggs into on one basket and decided to leave all the other markets and concentrate solely on India.
 

TO COME TO A HALT  

25 Aug 2022

Phrase

  • come to a stop in the process.
Example Sentence: The expansion of his company came to a halt when one of his employees embezzled a considerable
 

TO HAVE ONE’S FEET ON THE GROUND  

24 Aug 2022

Phrase

  • to be sensible.
Example Sentence: Despite his huge sudden success in business he manages to keep his feet on the ground.
 

BREAKEVEN breɪkˈivən

23 Aug 2022

Noun

  • the point at which a business operation can begin to make profit, and no longer loses money.
Example Sentence: I'm sure my husband's company will reach breakeven within a year.
 

UPMARKET ʌpˌmɑrkɪt

22 Aug 2022

Adjective

  • a product or service intended for people who can afford to buy or pay for expensive things.
Example Sentence: I really want to impress him so I've decided to take him somewhere really upmarket for breakfast; we might try the newly opened buffet near the parliament with golden teaspoons and a complimentary glass of champagne with everything.
 

TO OFFSET ɔfˌsɛt

21 Aug 2022

Verb

  • to compensate for something; to counterbalance.
Example Sentence: I'm afraid we will have to raise our prices in the restaurant in order to offset the increased cost of ingredients – vegetables are especially expensive this season.
 

TO SOAR sɔr

20 Aug 2022

Verb

  • (of an amount or value) – to rise very speedily.
Example Sentence: The number of really poor families has soared to record high levels.
 

GROSS PROFIT MARGIN groʊs prɒfɪt mɑrdʒɪn

19 Aug 2022

Noun

  • The difference between the selling price of a product or service and the cost of producing it, excluding taxation, salaries paid to employees, overheads (electricity, office rent etc).
Example Sentence: There were so many items I had to work with that in the end I made a mistake in calculating our gross profit margin.
 

OVERHEADS oʊvərˈhɛds

18 Aug 2022

Adjective

  • regular costs that a business must pay, such as electricity, salaries, etc.
Example Sentence: Internet companies have much lower overheads.
 

COLLATERAL kəˈlætərəl

17 Aug 2022

Noun

  • a car, a house or something valuable that you promise to give the lender if you cannot pay back the money you borrowed from them.
Example Sentence: I need $20.000 urgently. I can put my flat in London up as collateral – it must be worth 10 times as much as that.
 

TO CEMENT sɪˈmɛnt

16 Aug 2022

Verb

  • to make a business relationship stronger.
Example Sentence: After years of cooperation in different projects we cemented our relationship by signing the new contract.
 

TO BOUNCE BACK baʊns bæk

15 Aug 2022

Verb

  • to return to a higher level after suffering from difficulties for a while.
Example Sentence: The Chinese economy has already bounced back after the recession and now it's booming.
 

ACCELERATION ækˌsɛləˈreɪʃən

14 Aug 2022

Noun

  • (the rate of) speeding up.
Example Sentence: You can do a lot for the acceleration of your enterprise, e.g. you can invest more time into advertising yourself on community pages like Facebook.
 

AILING eɪlɪŋ

13 Aug 2022

Adjective

  • if the economy/a sector etc is ailing it is (relatively) weak and troubled.
Example Sentence: We are really lucky because we have severally financially ailing competitors, while our situation is relatively sound.
 
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