gambit

noun

gam·​bit ˈgam-bət How to pronounce gambit (audio)
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

Did you know?

Don’t let the similarities of sound and general flavor between gambit and gamble trip you up; the two words are unrelated. Gambit first appeared in English in a 1656 chess handbook that was said to feature almost a hundred illustrated gambetts. Gambett traces back first to the Spanish word gambito, and before that to the Italian gambetto, from gamba meaning “leg.” Gambetto referred to the act of tripping someone, as in wrestling, in order to gain an advantage. In chess, gambit (or gambett, as it was once spelled) originally referred to a chess opening whereby the bishop’s pawn is intentionally sacrificed—or tripped—to gain an advantage in position. Gambit is now applied to many other chess openings, but after being pinned down for years, it also finally broke free of chess’s hold and is used generally to refer to any “move,” whether literal or rhetorical, done to get a leg up, so to speak. While such moves can be risky, gambit is not synonymous with gamble, which likely comes from Old English gamen, meaning “amusement, jest, pastime”—source too of game.

Examples of gambit in a Sentence

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.
Recent Examples on the Web One gambit might be to lean on an early pandemic-era move used by the likes of Delta Air Lines and others: Cashing in on its loyalty program, TrueBlue. Melvin Backman, Quartz, 12 Mar. 2024 Waldman’s own gambit is to locate and lift up the meaningful details, the humanizing ones, that reveal her characters in their full complexity. Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2024 Musk’s apparent gambit to head off the severance obligations violated federal labor laws, the lawsuit alleges, because the reasons Musk cited for firing Agrawal and others do not stand up to scrutiny. Brian Fung, CNN, 4 Mar. 2024 Some of these visual gambits stop rather than deepen the story, but those pauses are momentary. Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Feb. 2024 The move was viewed as a risky political gambit, considering the bipartisan support Ukraine has among Senate leadership and immigration debates being notoriously thorny. USA TODAY, 25 Jan. 2024 The brilliant gambit of that show is to watch a bunch of apocalypse survivors attempt to act out, from memory, episodes of The Simpsons (in the framing of the play, a revered artifact long since lost to time). Sara Holdren, Vulture, 11 Jan. 2024 Their audacious gambit was launched in response to the gentrification taking place around them, a humorous protest against the capitalist forces that threatened to push the city’s artistic community to its outer edges. Brent Lang, Variety, 7 Mar. 2024 Will Ferrari’s gambit to hire two alpha drivers pay off or end in tears? Sahil Kapur, NBC News, 25 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gambit.' 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

borrowed from Spanish gambito, borrowed from Italian gambetto, literally, "act of tripping someone," from gamba "leg" (going back to Late Latin) + -etto, diminutive suffix — more at jamb

First Known Use

1656, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of gambit was in 1656

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Cite this Entry

“Gambit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gambit. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

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