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Don’t let the similarities of sound and general flavor between gambit and gamble trip you up; the two words are unrelated. Gambit first appeared in English in a 1656 chess handbook that was said to feature almost a hundred illustrated gambetts. Gambett traces back first to the Spanish word gambito, and before that to the Italian gambetto, from gamba meaning “leg.” Gambetto referred to the act of tripping someone, as in wrestling, in order to gain an advantage. In chess, gambit (or gambett, as it was once spelled) originally referred to a chess opening whereby the bishop’s pawn is intentionally sacrificed—or tripped—to gain an advantage in position. Gambit is now applied to many other chess openings, but after being pinned down for years, it also finally broke free of chess’s hold and is used generally to refer to any “move,” whether literal or rhetorical, done to get a leg up, so to speak. While such moves can be risky, gambit is not synonymous with gamble, which likely comes from Old English gamen, meaning “amusement, jest, pastime”—source too of game.
Examples of gambit in a Sentence
David M. Drucker, Twin Cities, 9 June 2026
The international tourist trade — a key source of Hollywood foot traffic — had a tough 2025 amid the fires and Trump’s foreign and trade policy gambits.
—Deputy Managing Editor, Los Angeles Times, 7 June 2026
At that time, the Bears responded enthusiastically to Indiana’s gambit.
—Robert McCoppin, Chicago Tribune, 5 June 2026
But Democrats' gambit to eliminate the fund failed in a 49 to 50 vote on an amendment that kicked off the vote series.
—Kaia Hubbard, CBS News, 4 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for gambit
Cite this Entry
“Gambit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gambit. Accessed 13 Jun. 2026.
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