mutually beneficial
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Involving mutual benefit: Describes a situation, relationship, or interaction that provides advantages or positive outcomes for all parties involved. Each participant gains something of value from the arrangement.
Usage
- The term "mutually beneficial" is used to describe agreements, partnerships, or exchanges where the interests of all sides are served. It emphasizes reciprocity and shared advantage. It is a formal term commonly used in business, diplomacy, economics, and social contexts.
Examples
- Adjective:
- The two companies formed a mutually beneficial partnership to share technology and expand into new markets.
- Trade agreements aim to create mutually beneficial conditions for the participating nations.
- Symbiosis in nature is a classic example of a mutually beneficial relationship between different species.
Advanced Usage
- "to be mutually beneficial": This is the standard construction to state that an arrangement is advantageous for all.
- The merger was designed to be mutually beneficial for both firms' shareholders.
- Used in formal analysis to describe systems or interactions.
- The study focused on identifying mutually beneficial strategies in cooperative games.
Variants and Related Words
- Mutualism (n): A biological term for a symbiotic relationship between two organisms that benefits both. It is also used more broadly in social sciences.
- The mutualism between the bee and the flower is essential for pollination.
- Symbiotic (adj): Often used interchangeably with "mutually beneficial," especially in biological contexts, but can imply a closer, long-term interdependence.
- Reciprocal (adj): Involving an exchange or corresponding action, often leading to mutual benefit.
- Win-win (adj, informal): Describing a situation where all parties benefit; a less formal synonym.
Synonyms
- Interdependent: Mutually reliant on each other.
- Synergistic: Producing a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.
- Advantageous to all parties: A descriptive phrase with the same meaning.
Related Phrases
- Mutually beneficial arrangement/agreement: A common collocation specifying the type of understanding.
- They reached a mutually beneficial arrangement regarding the use of the property.
- Of mutual benefit: A slightly more formal alternative phrasing.
- The collaboration proved to be of mutual benefit.
Notes
- The term explicitly rejects zero-sum dynamics (where one gains only if another loses) and emphasizes positive-sum outcomes.
- While similar to "symbiotic," "mutually beneficial" is more general and can be applied to human interactions without the biological connotation of inseparable living together.
Adjective
- mutually dependent