Definition

1. Noun:
   • An act of canceling a debt or deeming an asset worthless: In accounting and finance, a "write-off" is the formal recognition that a debt is unlikely to be collected or that an asset has lost its value and is removed from the financial accounts.
   • Something considered a total loss: Informally, a "write-off" can refer to any item, event, or period regarded as completely wasted, useless, or a failure.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Accounting/Finance):
  • The company recorded a significant write-off for unpaid customer invoices.
  • After the flood, the damaged machinery was a complete write-off.
• Noun (Informal - Total Loss/Failure):
  • The party was a write-off after the music system broke.
  • I'm so tired; this whole day has been a write-off.

Advanced Usage

• "to be a write-off": to be considered a total loss or complete failure.
  • The car was so badly damaged in the accident that the insurance company declared it a write-off.
• Tax write-off: An expense deducted from taxable income.
  • Donating to charity can sometimes be used as a tax write-off.

Variants and Related Words

• Write off (phrasal verb): To cancel the value of an asset or debt; to dismiss something as unimportant or a failure.
  • The bank had to write off the loan.
  • He wrote off the criticism as jealousy.
• Written-off (adjective): Describing something that has been officially declared a total loss.
  • He was driving a written-off car that had been repaired.

Synonyms

• Cancellation (n): The act of making something void.
• Loss (n): Something that is destroyed or rendered useless.
• Failure (n): A lack of success.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Write off for: To send a letter to request something.
  • I wrote off for a free sample of the product.
• Write off as: To decide that someone or something is not good, useful, or important.
  • Many critics wrote off his early novels as amateurish.

Related Idioms

• A dead loss: A complete failure or useless thing (similar informal meaning).
  • That old computer is a dead loss.

Noun

1. the act of cancelling from an account a bad debt or a worthless asset
2. (accounting) reduction in the book value of an asset