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There's no mystery about the origins of chicane. It's from the Middle French verb chicaner, meaning "to quibble" or "to prevent justice," and print evidence of its use as a verb in English dates to around 1672. The noun form of chicane was first used in print in 1686. In addition to referring to "trickery," the noun chicane is used to refer to an obstacle or a series of tight turns in opposite directions on a racecourse. In card games, chicane refers to the absence of trumps in a hand of cards. One curiosity of this word set is that the word that would appear to be a derivative of chicane-chicanery (a synonym of chicane in its "trickery" sense)-actually appeared in English over 60 years before chicane.
Examples of chicane in a Sentence
Jenny Catlin, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
Not to mention Piastri’s overtake on Norris last year at Monza into the second chicane.
—Rob Reed, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
Verstappen and Norris raced each other very hard into the first chicane; the Red Bull driver on the outside was forced to cut the chicane and leave the track to remain ahead of Norris and was ordered by his team to give the place back, before passing Norris with an effective move on the next lap.
—Jonathan M. Gitlin, ArsTechnica, 8 Sep. 2025
Another horizontal measure would be a chicane, or concrete curbs jutting out like triangles into the road, like those near the Kroger in East Nashville.
—Brad Schmitt, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for chicane
Cite this Entry
“Chicane.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chicane. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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