at stake

English

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

at stake

1. (idiomatic) At issue, at risk.

   What is at stake in these next 20 minutes is the championship.

   Doesn't he realize that all of our lives are at stake here too?

   • c. 1601, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, Act III, Scene 3,^[1]

     I see my reputation is at stake

     My fame is shrewdly gored.

   • 1713, Joseph Addison, Cato, a Tragedy, London: J. Tonson, Act I, Scene 4, p. 14,^[2]

     How, Lucia, wou’dst thou have me sink away

     In pleasing Dreams, and lose my self in Love,

     When ev’ry moment Cato’s Life’s at Stake?

   • 1818, Jane Austen, Persuasion, Chapter 5,^[3]

     […] as I have a great deal more at stake on this point than anybody else can have, I think it rather unnecessary in you to be advising me.

Translations

at issue, at risk

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: en joc (ca)
• Dutch: op het spel
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: pelissä
• French: en jeu (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: auf dem Spiel
• Irish: i ngeall
• Italian: in ballo, in gioco, a rischio, in palio, posta in gioco f
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Mandarin:

  Simplified: ^{(please verify)} 危险的 (zh)

• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: em jogo
• Russian: на кону́ (na konú), на ка́рте (na kárte)
• Scottish Gaelic: an geall
• Spanish: en juego
• Swedish: på spel
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• up the ante
• on the line
• ride on