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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.
Synonyms
Examples of chicane in a Sentence
Caleb Miller, Car and Driver, 12 June 2023
With a course nearly entirely full of 90-degree turns, minus one chicane and one hairpin, drivers had initially eyed the end of the long straightaway down Jefferson Avenue (between Turns 2 and 3) to be Detroit’s lone reliable passing zone.
—Nathan Brown, The Indianapolis Star, 3 June 2023
The IndyCar field is yet to make it through the track’s starting chicane in Turns 1-3 intact in the three races since the series returned to Portland International Raceway in 2018.
—Nathan Brown, The Indianapolis Star, 2 Sep. 2022
For Sunday, IndyCar moved the acceleration zone back to the exit of Turn 12 to try and spread the field out for that tight left-hander that leads into a quick three-turn chicane.
—Nathan Brown, The Indianapolis Star, 5 Sep. 2022
The second is a chicane or a diversion.
—Curbed, 21 Dec. 2022
The end of the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course featured a major incident when part of the curb in the turns 5-6 chicane came up and destroyed multiple race cars.
—Rob Peeters, The Indianapolis Star, 15 Aug. 2021
Actual look-at-me styling, deft handling, no longer a moving chicane.
—Dan Edmunds, Car and Driver, 14 Dec. 2022
Leclerc crossed the line in second place, but the Monegasque was handed a five-second penalty for cutting the final chicane in a battle with Red Bull’s other driver, Sergio Perez, which dropped him to third.
—Sahil Kapur, NBC News, 10 Oct. 2022
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'chicane.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Verb
borrowed from French chicaner "to dispute by means of quibbles, raise issues with minor points of law in order to complicate a judicial suit," going back to Middle French, "to sue, prosecute," perhaps a blend of the Gallo-Romance expressive base čik- expressing diminutiveness (as in Old Occitan chic "small," French chiquet "small piece") and ricaner "to snicker, laugh affectedly or contemptuously," going back to Middle French, "to bray," probably alteration (by association with rire "to laugh") of Old French (Norman) recaner, rechaner "to bray," from re- re- + -caner, derivative of cane "tooth," going back to Old Low Franconian *kinni- "cheek," going back to Germanic *kinnu- — more at chin entry 1
Noun
borrowed from French, "quibble on a minor point of law brought up to complicate a judicial case," noun derivative of chicaner "to raise issues with minor points of law" — more at chicane entry 1
Verb
circa 1671, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense
Noun
1683, in the meaning defined at sense 1
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Dictionary Entries Near chicane
Cite this Entry
“Chicane.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chicane. Accessed 23 Sep. 2023.
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