DRAWBACK | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary
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English (US)

Meaning of drawback in English

drawback
noun [ C ]
us
/ˈdrɑː.bæk/ uk
/ˈdrɔː.bæk/
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C1
a disadvantage or the negative part of a situation:
One of the drawbacks of living with someone is having to share a bathroom.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Advantage and disadvantage
See more results »
(Definition of drawback from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

drawback | Intermediate English

drawback
noun [ C ]
us
/ˈdrɔ·bæk/
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a disadvantage or problem; the negative part of a situation:
One of the drawbacks of working for a big company is that you have to follow a lot of rules.
(Definition of drawback from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

drawback | Business English

drawback
noun [ C ]
uk
/ˈdrɔːbæk/ us
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[ C ]
a disadvantage, or the negative part of a situation, product, etc.:
A drawback for some savers is that the bond has a minimum investment of £10,000.
a big/main/major drawback The design of the computer has one big drawback: a noisy built-in fan.
Every strategic choice has its benefits and drawbacks.
[ C or U ]
→  duty drawback

See also

customs drawback
(Definition of drawback from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of drawback

drawback
The only drawback is a stringent government policy on the re-export of vehicles, especially old models manufactured before the 1970s.
From TIME
It's going to be all-voluntary, so that's a drawback.
From NPR
A university study says that the drawbacks of regular travel, such as anxiety, stress and illness, are often ignored.
From Los Angeles Times
Maybe becoming wealthy enough to have your money in a hedge fund is actually one of the drawbacks of getting rich.
From Minneapolis Star Tribune
How can these advantages be preserved without the accompanying drawbacks?
From The New York Review of Books
One drawback of its installation here is that most of the objects are in cases or on pedestals that stand against the walls.
From Los Angeles Times
The recurrence of dated language is another drawback to the film.
From Huffington Post
While they may be available on the market, they have drawback.
From CNN
There is a drawback to tape storage however, it has a shelf life.
From CBS Local
A second drawback is that the danger of addiction to these agents is further increased by the fact that they work so quickly.
From CNN
At that price point, they were shown less-than-cared-for studios with huge drawbacks.
From New York Post
But flash storage does have some drawbacks as well.
From Ars Technica
Unless you're somehow wowed by that stuff, the only real major software drawback is the lackluster camera software on these stock phones.
From The Verge
But they should also be familiar with the potential drawbacks.
From TechCrunch
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with drawback

drawback

These are words often used in combination with drawback.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

main drawback
Such a poor resolution in the ver tical direction is actually the main drawback of using the scheme presented to per form monochromatic imaging.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
major drawback
The major drawback of parallel robots is their limited range of motion.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
obvious drawback
The obvious drawback of this, however, is the increased computational cost.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
See all collocations with drawback
What is the pronunciation of drawback?
 

Translations of drawback

in Chinese (Traditional)
（通常指因驚異或恐懼而）退後，退縮…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
（通常指因惊异或恐惧而）退后，退缩…
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in Spanish
inconveniente, desventaja [feminine]…
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in Portuguese
problema, obstáculo, inconveniente…
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in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Tamil
in Hindi
in Gujarati
in Danish
in Swedish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Urdu
in Ukrainian
in Russian
in Telugu
in Arabic
in Bengali
in Czech
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Korean
in Italian
ड्रॉबॅक, उणीव…
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不利な点, 難点, 欠点（けってん）…
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mahsur, eksiklik, sakınca…
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inconvénient [masculine], désavantage [masculine], inconvénient…
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fer-se enrere…
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nadeel…
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ஒரு சூழ்நிலையின் பாதகம் அல்லது எதிர்மறை பகுதி…
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(किसी स्थिति का) नुकसान या नकारात्मक हिस्सा, क्षति…
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ખામી, ત્રુટી…
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ulempe, minus…
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nackdel, avigsida, hake…
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kelemahan…
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die Schattenseite…
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ulempe [masculine], ulempe, uheldig side…
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خرابی, عیب, نقص…
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вада, дефект…
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отступать, подаваться назад…
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ప్రతికూలత లేక పరిస్థితి యొక్క ప్రతికూల భాగం…
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يَتَراجَع…
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অপূর্ণতা…
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nedostatek…
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kekurangan…
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ข้อเสียเปรียบ…
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mặt hạn chế…
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wada, minus, strona ujemna…
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물러나다…
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tirarsi indietro, indietreggiare…
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draw the line idiom
draw to a close/an end phrase
draw/get the short straw idiom
draw/pull in your horns idiom
drawback
drawbridge
drawdown
drawee
drawee bank

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