gambit

gam·bit

noun \ˈgam-bət\

Definition of GAMBIT

1

: a chess opening in which a player risks one or more pawns or a minor piece to gain an advantage in position

2

a (1) : a remark intended to start a conversation or make a telling point (2) : topic

b : a calculated move : stratagem

Examples of GAMBIT

1. <I couldn't tell whether her earlier poor-mouthing had been sincere or just a gambit to get me to pick up the dinner check.>

Origin of GAMBIT

Italian gambetto, literally, act of tripping someone, from gamba leg, from Late Latin gamba, camba, from Greek kampē bend; probably akin to Gothic hamfs maimed, Lithuanian kampas corner

First Known Use: 1656

Related to GAMBIT

Synonyms

artifice, device, dodge, fetch, flimflam, trick, gimmick, jig, juggle, knack, play, ploy, scheme, shenanigan, sleight, stratagem, wile

Related Words

bluff, end run, feint; cheating, chicanery, cozenage, craft, crookery, cunning, deception, dupery, duplicity, fakery, jugglery, legerdemain, skulduggery (or skullduggery), subterfuge, swindling, trickery; fraud, gaff, hoax, sham, swindle; blind, front, smoke screen

Other Game Terms

bezique, carom, convention, crap, euchre, monte, parlay, tierce

Rhymes with GAMBIT

ambit