zugzwang
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also Zugzwang
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From German Zugzwang, literally "compulsion to move"
Pronunciation [edit]
Noun [edit]
zugzwang (countable and uncountable; plural zugzwangs or zugzwänge)
- (chess) A situation in which a player is forced to make a move.
- in figurative uses
- 2002: Carl Friedrich Graumann and Werner Kallmeyer [eds.], Perspective and Perspectivation in Discourse, page 174
- An explanation for this phenomenon may be that speech acts that include instructions (e.g., a command or request) show a higher level of activity than speech acts of assertion; the ethnomethodological analysis of conversation speaks of conversational Zugzwänge:24 a request, a question or a command demands a reaction of the addressee.
- 2002: Carl Friedrich Graumann and Werner Kallmeyer [eds.], Perspective and Perspectivation in Discourse, page 174
Usage notes [edit]
Zugzwang typically refers to a situation in which a player is forced to make a disadvantageous move though he or she would prefer not to make a move.
Alternative forms [edit]
Translations [edit]
lack of choice in what to do
French [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From German.
Noun [edit]
zugzwang m (plural zugzwangs)
