gambit

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See also: Gambit

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Italian gambetto (act of tripping; gambit), from Italian gamba (leg), from Late Latin gamba.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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gambit (plural gambits)

  1. (chess) An opening in chess in which a minor piece or a pawn is sacrificed to gain an advantage.
    Her clever gambit gave her an advantage.
  2. Any ploy or stratagem.
    Their promise to lower taxes is clearly an election-year gambit.
    • 2009, Steven Rosefielde, Red Holocaust, page 240:
      The Red Holocaust is best interpreted in this light as the bitter fruit of an[sic] utopian gambit that was socially misengineered into a dystopic nightmare by despots in humanitarian disguise.
    • 2023 June 29, City AM, London, page 18, column 2:
      An opening sequence, featuring a de-aged Ford playing a younger Indy, is a bold and nostalgic gambit, offering a glimpse of what you've missed.
  3. A remark intended to open a conversation.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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gambit (third-person singular simple present gambits, present participle gambiting, simple past and past participle gambited)

  1. (chess, transitive) To sacrifice (a pawn or minor piece) to gain an advantage.

French

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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gambit m (plural gambits)

  1. gambit

Descendants

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  • Russian: гамбит (gambit)
    • Georgian: გამბიტი (gambiṭi)

Further reading

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Polish

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Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology

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Borrowed from English gambit, from Italian gambetto, from gamba, from Late Latin gamba, from Ancient Greek καμπή (kampḗ), from Proto-Indo-European *kamp-.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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gambit m inan

  1. (chess) gambit (chess move)
  2. gambit (risky move)
    Synonym: ryzyko

Declension

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Further reading

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  • gambit in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • gambit in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French gambit.

Noun

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gambit n (plural gambituri)

  1. gambit

Declension

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Slovak

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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gambit m inan (genitive singular gambitu, nominative plural gambity, genitive plural gambitov, declension pattern of dub)

  1. (chess) gambit

Declension

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Further reading

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  • gambit”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024