An acceptable loss, also known as acceptable damage or acceptable casualties, is a military

euphemism A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...

used to indicate casualties or destruction inflicted by the enemy that is considered minor or tolerable. In

combat Combat (French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, o ...

situations, leaders have to often choose between options where no one solution is perfect and all choices will lead to casualties or other costs to their own troops. A small scale practical example might be when the advancement of troops is halted by a

minefield A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

. In many military operations, the speed of advancement is more important than the safety of troops. Thus, the minefield must be "breached" even if this means some casualties. On a larger strategic level, there is a limit to how many casualties a nation's military or the public are willing to withstand when they go to war. For example, there is an ongoing debate on how the conceptions of acceptable losses affect how the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

conducts its military operations. The concept of acceptable losses has also been adopted to business use, meaning taking necessary risks and the general costs of doing business, also covered with terms such as ''waste'' or ''shrinkage''. The euphemism is related to the concept of ''acceptable risk'', which is used in many areas such as

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, and Health promotion ...

and

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

, to describe a situation where a course of action is taken because the expected benefits outweigh the potential hazards.

References

Military tactics Military terminology War casualties Euphemisms Risk management {{business-stub

See also

References