roll the dice
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Metaphor from the use of dice in gambling games.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
[edit]roll the dice (third-person singular simple present rolls the dice, present participle rolling the dice, simple past and past participle rolled the dice)
- (figurative) To take a chance, particularly a risky attempt.
- 1995 August 13, Christopher Farrell, “Commentary: Media Control Is Narrowing. Should We Worry?”, in Businessweek, retrieved 14 Aug. 2012:
- No one really knows which companies and technologies will come out ahead, so everyone is rolling the dice.
- 2003, James Siegel, Derailed[1], →ISBN:
- Could we take the chance? Could we roll the dice?
- 2009 June 15, Tony Karon, “Khamenei: The Power Behind the President”, in Time:
- Whatever comes next, the events of the June 12 presidential election will be remembered as a turning point in Iran's revolutionary history; a moment when Ayatullah Ali Khamenei rolled the dice.
- 2011 September 3, Jesse Hirsch, “Local Grocery Stores Try to Find Traction in Tough Times”, in New York Times, retrieved 14 Aug. 2012:
- Fresh & Easy is rolling the dice that Ms. Morris’s shopping patterns are not unique.
- 2024 November 2, Katie Rogers, Nicholas Nehamas, Haberman, “Kamala Harris Joins ‘S.N.L.’ for a Pep Talk With Maya Rudolph”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
- Appearing on live television is a gamble for a presidential candidate, or for any celebrity, without acting experience, but previous contenders have rolled the dice, including Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2015 and Barack Obama in 2007.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see roll, dice.
Synonyms
[edit]References
[edit]- “roll the dice”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.