gamy

1 of 2

adjective

variants or gamey
gamier; gamiest
1
: brave, plucky
used especially of animals
2
a
: having the flavor of game
especially : having the flavor of game near tainting
b
: smelly
3
a
: sordid, scandalous
gave us all the gamy details
b
: corrupt, disreputable
a gamy character
c
: sexually suggestive : racy
gamy witticisms
gamily adverb
gaminess noun

-gamy

2 of 2

noun combining form

1
: marriage
exogamy
2
: union for propagation or reproduction
allogamy
3
: possession of (such) reproductive organs or (such) a mode of fertilization
cleistogamy

Examples of gamy in a Sentence

Adjective a singles bar where the conversations and come-on lines tend to be gamy
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
All the same, today Alaska’s on-a-bun benefaction is a dog made with lean, delicately gamy reindeer. J. J. Goode, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2023 Plus, the horror has a purpose, beyond gamy genre thrills. Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times, 5 July 2023 The plot is a deliberately gamy melodrama. Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2023 Eating goat curry can mean doing battle with bone fragments, but The Russell’s kitchen minimizes this problem via careful butchering; the meat fell away from the bone in big tender chunks and also possessed none of the slightly gamy taste goat meat can have. Rand Richards Cooper, Hartford Courant, 2 May 2022 The reindeer is gamy, such a distinct flavor. Steve Thomas, Harpers Magazine, 5 Jan. 2021 Wild turkeys were definitely eaten by the first European colonists, but these were small gamy fowls quite unlike the average farmed turkey. Bee Wilson, WSJ, 19 Nov. 2022 An intriguing pinot combining a New World sense of adventure with gamy flavors that conjure images of cherries, tree bark and the day’s kill on a grill tantalizingly out of sight, all wrapped in silky elegance. Washington Post, 23 Dec. 2021 In the end, Surrealism came down to gamy incoherence. Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gamy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

in sense 1 from game entry 2 + -y entry 1; in other senses from game entry 1 + -y entry 1

Noun combining form

borrowed from Greek -gamia, from the base of gameîn "to marry" + -ia -ia entry 1 — more at -gamous

First Known Use

Adjective

1820, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Time Traveler
The first known use of gamy was in 1820

Dictionary Entries Near gamy

Cite this Entry

“Gamy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gamy. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

gamy

adjective
variants or gamey
gamier; gamiest
1
2
: having the flavor of wild game especially when slightly spoiled
gamy meat
gamily adverb
gaminess noun

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