wa·ger | \ ˈwā-jər 
\
\Definition of wager
(Entry 1 of 2)
wager
verbwagered; wagering\ ˈwāj-riŋ , ˈwā-jə- \
\Definition of wager (Entry 2 of 2)
: to make a bet
: to risk or venture on a final outcome specifically : to lay as a gamble : bet wager $5 on a horse
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Other Words from wager
Verb
wagerer \ ˈwā-jər-ər \ noun
\ noun
Examples of wager in a Sentence
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.
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Recent Examples on the Web: Noun The bettor who backed Biden with the third biggest wager in Betfair's history wishes to remain anonymous, the spokesperson for Betfair said Monday.
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Charles Riley, CNN, "The person who bet $1.3 million on a Biden win hasn't been paid yet," 9 Nov. 2020 Baseball had the highest wager total in September, with more than $47.1 million in retail and online wagers.
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Derek Draplin, Washington Examiner, "Football’s September kickoff catapults Colorado’s sports betting market to over $207M in wagers," 26 Oct. 2020 The wager in focus has cost around $1 million in options premiums, with a maximum potential payoff of about $50 million.
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Elizabeth Stanton, Bloomberg.com, "A Hawkish Fed Bet Is Creating Buzz in Key Part of Rates Market," 18 Oct. 2020 The huge wager was placed October 29 on the Betfair Exchange, the world's largest online betting exchange, where gamblers find others to match their wagers.
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Charles Riley, CNN, "The person who bet $1.3 million on a Biden win hasn't been paid yet," 9 Nov. 2020 So each hypothesis gets a prior probability of one half, much as if one were to flip a coin to decide a wager.
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Anil Ananthaswamy, Scientific American, "Do We Live in a Simulation? Chances Are about 50–50," 13 Oct. 2020 The wager, believed to be the largest on a political candidate in history, was made by a former banker through private bookmakers registered on the Caribbean island of Curacao.
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Andrew Mark Miller, Washington Examiner, "Mystery gambler places $5M bet on Trump to win reelection," 3 Nov. 2020 Amping up the potential for volatility, hedge funds and other speculators that use leverage to boost returns have a record wager on losses in bond futures.
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Liz Mccormick, Bloomberg.com, "Bond Traders Face Whirlwind Week That’s Make-or-Break for 2020," 1 Nov. 2020 Though their political wager may be the same, the difference between the two Carolinians is the difference between their states, which are divided by far more than their barbecue preferences.
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Jonathan Martin, New York Times, "The White House, Senate and Supreme Court Could All Hinge on North Carolina," 23 Sep. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb According to the lawsuit, the plant manager organized a cash-buy-in, winner-take-all betting pool for supervisors and managers to wager how many plant employees would test positive for COVID-19.
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William Thornton | Wthornton@al.com, al, "Tyson Foods managers bet how many employees would get COVID, lawsuit says," 19 Nov. 2020 For the first time, bettors could wager on all four major team sports in the third quarter: baseball, basketball, hockey and football.
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Paul R. La Monica, CNN, "It's the 'golden age' of sports betting," 13 Nov. 2020 Fans can watch and wager at the track Friday (free admission) and Saturday ($5; reservations required at canterburypark.com).
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Star Tribune, "Breeders' Cup preview," 6 Nov. 2020 With no legal avenue to wager on the election domestically, bookmakers that operate outside of the U.S set the market.
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Chris Bumbaca, USA TODAY, "Joe Biden emerges as favorite as European, offshore betting markets react with election updates," 4 Nov. 2020 Smarkets, a British gambling site that allows people to wager on sports as well as some elections, says that 60% of the money being wagered on the site is being placed on Trump to emerge as the winner of next week's contest.
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Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, "Bettors think Trump can still pull off an upset—and they see him ahead in Florida," 30 Oct. 2020 The Kentucky Derby Sire Future Wager also will return and allows bettors to wager on the winning sire for next year’s Derby.
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Jason Frakes, The Courier-Journal, "Fans allowed to attend Churchill Downs' Fall Meet that opens Sunday," 23 Oct. 2020 That means a bettor would have to wager $360 just to win $100.
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Matt Young, Chron, "Online gambling sites swing to make Donald Trump favorite to beat Joe Biden," 3 Nov. 2020 People can wager on the results of a specific state and profit in that manner.
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Chris Bumbaca, USA TODAY, "2020 U.S. presidential election expected to involve more than $1 billion in wagers," 2 Nov. 2020
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wager.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for wager
wager
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of wager
(Entry 1 of 2)
: an agreement in which people try to guess what will happen and the person who guesses wrong has to give something (such as money) to the person who guesses right
: the money or other valuable thing that you could win or lose in a bet
wager
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of wager (Entry 2 of 2)
: to risk losing something (such as money) if your guess about what will happen is wrong
informal —used in the phrase I'll wager to indicate what you think will happen or what you believe is probably true
See the full definition for wager in the English Language Learners Dictionary
wager
nounwa·ger | \ ˈwā-jər \
\Kids Definition of wager
(Entry 1 of 2)
2 : the act of betting
wager
verbwagered; wagering
Kids Definition of wager (Entry 2 of 2)
: to bet on the result of a contest or question
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Time Traveler for wager
The first known use of wager was in the 14th century
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