Noun
He has a wager on the game.
I don't think the horse will win. What's your wager? Verb
She wagered $50 on the game.
I wouldn't wager against them.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The 400,000-square-foot facility will feature a 122-room luxury hotel, an event center, 1,000 slot machines, 35 live table games, a poker room and a sportsbook at which to place wagers on various sports competitions.—The Courier-Journal, 4 Apr. 2024 Japanese citizens recognize that baseball players betting on baseball — even if the wagers aren’t made on a bettor’s team — is taboo.—Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 3 Apr. 2024 Progressive Slots Progressive slot machines accumulate a fraction of each wager, contributing to a growing jackpot prize.—Sponsored Content, The Mercury News, 11 Mar. 2024 When the antenna disconnects from one satellite and links to another, Buchman wagers that passengers rarely notice.—Julia Buckley, CNN, 9 Mar. 2024 Super Bowl 58 between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs has arrived with ample opportunity to watch the game and wager on nearly every aspect of it.—Jon Hoefling, USA TODAY, 11 Feb. 2024 Fans typically vie for cash prizes organized through an office pool at work or place friendly wagers with family and friends.—Khristopher J. Brooks, CBS News, 21 Mar. 2024 The win came down to the Final Jeopardy question with Raut, a social and personality psychologist, placing a savvy wager from second place despite answering the question incorrectly.—Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 20 Mar. 2024 Subscribe Sign up for Ponies Express newsletter and get the latest news and tips on wagers for weekend Horse Racing at Santa Anita and other Southern California tracks in your inbox.—Staff Report, Orange County Register, 10 Feb. 2024
Verb
The college basketball tournament — one of the most wagered on sports events in the nation — is coming to a close this week.—Khristopher J. Brooks, CBS News, 4 Apr. 2024 At the time of the Supreme Court decision, about $5 billion was wagered on sports in the U.S., all of it in Nevada.—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2024 Prop – or proposition – bets let gamblers wager on a player’s statistics during the game, in lieu of the final score.—Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 28 Mar. 2024 Green wagered $20,000 that bitcoin would not reach a price of $100,000 per coin by the end of the year.—Joel Khalili, WIRED, 12 Mar. 2024 Bettors at the casinos can wager on all types of pro and college events.—Joe Marusak, Charlotte Observer, 8 Mar. 2024 Though none of the three players answered the question about Aeschylus’ first surviving play correctly, Barinholtz wagered all of his winnings, landing him in last place with an even $0.—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 7 Mar. 2024 The watch and wager action on the biggest Derby prep races increases as 150th running of America’s biggest horse race at Churchill Downs in Louisville nears on Sat., May 4, 2024.—Jay Ginsbach, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2024 Americans legally wagered $119.84 billion on sports, up 27.8% from the previous year.—Wayne Parry, Fortune, 21 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wager.' 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
Noun
Middle English wageour pledge, bet, from Anglo-French wageure, from *wager
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