Thesaurus results for GAMBITS

gambits

noun

plural of gambit

as in ruses

a clever often underhanded means to achieve an end I couldn't tell whether her earlier poor-mouthing had been sincere or just a gambit to get me to pick up the dinner check

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of gambits Everything in the movie, from the chomping shark attacks that churn up the waves with Hawaiian Punch foam to the way a humongous great white meets her fate at the end, takes an obvious page from Steven Spielberg’s gambits and techniques. —

Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 11 Apr. 2026 But what if all these works were more than just conceptual gambits? —

Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 8 Apr. 2026 But there is good reason to think that this time, his gambits may fail. —

Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2026 Prediction market users make their wartime gambits from someplace comfortable and safe, and hope to hit it big off of someone else's misfortune. —

Scott Simon, NPR, 7 Mar. 2026 In those earlier pictures, metaphysical conceits became visual and dramatic gambits as the filmmakers set out to colonize the vast interior worlds of, respectively, the mind and the spirit. —

Justin Chang, New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2026 But taken together, along with the cumulative weight of high-level diplomatic gambits to Beijing now underway — and many more on the horizon — something structural is happening that requires attention. —

Dewardric L. McNeal, CNBC, 13 Feb. 2026 None of these actions require dramatic announcements or risky gambits. —

Sho Dewan, Forbes.com, 27 Jan. 2026 At first blush, Rachel appears to be a mousy wallflower irritated by Marty’s fast-cash gambits. —

Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 2 Jan. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for gambits

Noun

The New York Colored American reported that some offers of short-term work for Black men — moving livestock to or from Kentucky, for example — were ruses that ended with kidnappings.

— Equal Justice Initiative, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025
Many suspect a spam call and don't pick up the phone, leading foundation staff to sometimes devise ruses.

— Kelly Meyerhofer, jsonline.com, 8 Oct. 2025