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Definition of "write off" []

  • To reduce an asset's book value to zero (verb)
  • To record an expenditure as an expense. (verb)
  • To remove a portion of a debt or an amount of an account owed to you counting it as a loss (as a gesture of goodwill for example) (verb)
  • To record a notional expense such as amortization or depreciation. (verb)
  • Figuratively, to assign a low value to something. (verb)

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Use "write off" in a sentence
  • "My partner at the time, Howard Zuker, raised $1 million through dentists and doctors investing $25,000 to $50,000 apiece, each of whom could write off seven or eight times that amount under the tax shelter laws then in place."
  • "Had he been brash in his decision to write off Deeva?"
  • "At one time the Yipsoon Group had wanted to withdraw from the partnership and write off its losses, but the president of the Bangkok Bank persuaded it to stay and arranged for the capital to be increased from 260 million baht to 400 million baht."