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Glite Dictionary
biggest bleeder

biggest bleeder

8.6
The person or group that loses the most money
  • noun
  • Jargon
translation icon : el que más pierde
  • During the layoffs, John turned out to be the biggest bleeder in terms of lost revenue.

Examples

  • If our company continues this trend, marketing will be the biggest bleeder next quarter.

  • The recent budget review revealed that the sales department was the biggest bleeder, responsible for the largest losses.

  • When the budget cuts hit, the department with the most staff became the biggest bleeder.

  • In this deal, he is the biggest bleeder.

  • The company identified the biggest bleeder after the financial report.

  • During the layoffs, marketing proved to be the biggest bleeder, losing significant revenue for the company.

  • After analyzing the quarterly financials, the management identified the project as the biggest bleeder affecting the firm's profits.

Surface Forms

biggest bleeder singular
biggest bleeders plural

Morphology

big + bleeder

The literal parts ('big' + 'bleeder') suggest someone who bleeds a lot, so there is a visible compositional link, but the intended meaning ('the one suffering the largest losses') relies on a figurative extension of 'bleed' to losing money or value. This financial/metaphorical sense is not fully predictable for a B1 learner who only knows the basic senses of the words, so the phrase is partially but not fully transparent.

Etymology

The phrase biggest bleeder may come from a picture of a person who is losing a lot of blood, a bleeder, with the biggest one losing the most. So, the biggest bleeder in a company or team is the part that is losing the most money or people, 'most affected by losses'.