roulette

1 of 2

noun

rou·​lette rü-ˈlet 

1

a

: a gambling game in which players bet on which compartment of a revolving wheel a small ball will come to rest in

b

: something involving a high degree of chance and unpredictability

2

a

: any of various toothed wheels or disks (as for producing rows of dots on engraved plates or for making short consecutive incisions in paper to facilitate subsequent division)

b

: tiny slits between rows of stamps in a sheet that are made by a roulette and serve as an aid in separation compare perforation

roulette

2 of 2

verb

rouletted; rouletting

transitive verb

: to make roulettes in

Examples of roulette in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Courtesy of Marshall Moving into a new product category is a nervy undertaking for any company, and the current climate of tariff roulette only adds another level of uncertainty. —Verity Burns, Wired News, 20 May 2025

As the day wore on, clusters of boys surrounded craps, roulette and blackjack tables at the casino. —Dionne Searcey, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2025

Verb

In addition to giving the Seminoles control over sports betting, the compact allowed the tribe to offer craps and roulette at its casinos. —Dara Kam, Orlando Sentinel, 19 Aug. 2022

The gambling deal, known as a compact, gave the Seminoles control over online sports betting throughout the state and allowed the tribe to add craps and roulette to its existing casino operations. —Dara Kam, sun-sentinel.com, 21 Jan. 2022

Word History

Etymology

Noun

French, literally, small wheel, from Old French roelete, diminutive of roele wheel, rowel, from Late Latin rotella, diminutive of Latin rota wheel — more at roll

First Known Use

Noun

1744, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1867, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing roulette

• Russian roulette

Rhymes for roulette

• abet
• asset
• baguette
• banquette
• barbette
• beget
• beset
• brevet
• briquette
• brunet
• brunette
• burette

Kids Definition

roulette

noun

rou·​lette

rü-ˈlet

1

: a gambling game in which players bet on which compartment of a revolving wheel a small ball will come to rest in

2

: a wheel or disk with teeth around the outside

Etymology

Noun

from French roulette, literally, "small wheel"