To save this word, you'll need to log in.
Definition of Russian roulette
1 : an act of bravado consisting of spinning the cylinder of a revolver loaded with one cartridge, pointing the muzzle at one's own head, and pulling the trigger
2 : something resembling Russian roulette in its potential for disaster
taking cocaine is playing Russian roulette— Jonathan Nicholas
Keep scrolling for more
Keep scrolling for more
Comments on Russian roulette
What made you want to look up Russian roulette? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
A More Exception(al) Quiz
- Which of the following words is not a synonym for ‘a young person’?
Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridgedWords at Play
Ask the Editors
Share Russian roulette
Time Traveler for Russian roulette
The first known use of Russian roulette was in 1937
See more words from the same year