I was at the optical store getting a new pair of glasses and lens. Since I have a somewhat high prescription, when selecting the features for the lenses I asked the clerk whether there is an option where the lenses can be made thinner than the regular lenses with the same prescription and she said yes, those are the high-index lenses and they cost a little bit more. Then I asked her since these lenses are thinner thus better, will it lose quality in other areas such as clarity, impact resistance, etc.. I feel the way I asked this is somewhat wordy and I wonder if there's an expression that means what I'm trying to say. An expression that describes the fact of getting something that improves its quality, but will in turn cause the lost of quality in something else sort of like a balance, I guess similar to the word sacrifice? But using sacrifice doesn't seem that correct in this context.
Learn English – Word that means to “get something good but loses something else good in return”
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Best Answer
In my humble opinion, the word "trade-off" is most appropriate here. Sacrifice suggests loss, not gain. You would have to use both "sacrifice" and "gain" to obtain the meaning that "trade-off" provides in one package.
You could then ask:
"What are the trade-offs?" rather than "What do I sacrifice for these gains?"