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Does "were more than offset" mean "greatly weakened"?

 
 
Reply Thu 28 Jan, 2016 11:38 pm
The use of "more than" is evasive to me.

Context:

And while the average American paycheck had risen over the past30 years, its happiness-boosting benefits were more than offset by a drop in the quality of relationships over the period.

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oristarA
 
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Reply Sat 30 Jan, 2016 12:53 am
@oristarA,
It keeps from elusive to reclusive?
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Tes yeux noirs
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Reply Sat 30 Jan, 2016 02:41 am
Offset means counterbalanced. Let us say that I am a gambler. I bet on horseraces and football matches. If I say that last year I made a loss on horses and a gain on football, I am saying that my losses were offset (to some degree) by my gains. However I can specify the degree of offset:

If I lost $100 on horses, and gained $90 on football, my losses were partly offset by my gains. (If I gained $99 then my losses were almost offset.)

If I lost $100 on horses, and gained $100 on football, my losses were exactly (or completely) offset by my gains.

If I lost $100 on horses, and gained $110 on football, my losses were more than offset by my gains.



oristarA
 
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Reply Sat 30 Jan, 2016 07:26 am
@Tes yeux noirs,
Tes yeux noirs wrote:

Offset means counterbalanced. Let us say that I am a gambler. I bet on horseraces and football matches. If I say that last year I made a loss on horses and a gain on football, I am saying that my losses were offset (to some degree) by my gains. However I can specify the degree of offset:

If I lost $100 on horses, and gained $90 on football, my losses were partly offset by my gains. (If I gained $99 then my losses were almost offset.)

If I lost $100 on horses, and gained $100 on football, my losses were exactly (or completely) offset by my gains.

If I lost $100 on horses, and gained $110 on football, my losses were more than offset by my gains.



Thanks.
All explanations are crystal clear except the last sentence.
I compare it to the OP sentence:
Quote:
its happiness-boosting benefits were more than offset by a drop in the quality of relationships over the period.

It says "benefits were more than offset". So if you've rewritten "my gains were more than offset by my losses", I would have had no problem in understanding: benefits>a drop and gains>losses (110>100). But now, I don't whether it is "benefits>a drop" or "a drop>benefits".
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Tes yeux noirs
 
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Reply Sat 30 Jan, 2016 08:48 am
Quote:
And while the average American paycheck had risen over the past30 years, its happiness-boosting benefits were more than offset by a drop in the quality of relationships over the period.

The increase in happiness caused by greater income was exceeded in magnitude (more than offset) by the decrease in happiness caused by a lesser quality of relationships. Thus people were less happy overall than 30 years before.



oristarA
 
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Reply Sun 31 Jan, 2016 06:49 am
@Tes yeux noirs,
Excellent.
That is crystal clear.
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