checkmate
Americannoun
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checkmates
plural
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Also called mate. Chess.
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an act or instance of maneuvering the opponent's king into a check from which it cannot escape, thus bringing the game to a victorious conclusion.
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the position of the pieces when a king is checkmated.
-
-
a complete check; defeat.
His efforts to escape met with a checkmate.
verb (used with object)
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checkmates,
present (3rd person singular)
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checkmated,
past participle, past
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checkmating
present participle
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Chess. to maneuver (an opponent's king) into a check from which it cannot escape; mate.
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to check completely; defeat.
Napoleon was checkmated at Waterloo.
interjection
noun
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chess
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the winning position in which an opponent's king is under attack and unable to escape
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the move by which this position is achieved
-
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utter defeat
verb
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chess to place (an opponent's king) in checkmate
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to thwart or render powerless
interjection
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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checkmatesimple
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checkmatessimple
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have checkmatedperfect
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has checkmatedperfect
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am checkmatingprogressive
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are checkmatingprogressive
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is checkmatingprogressive
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have been checkmatingperfect progressive
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has been checkmatingperfect progressive
Past
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checkmatedsimple
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had checkmatedperfect
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was checkmatingprogressive
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were checkmatingprogressive
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had been checkmatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of checkmate
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English chek mat(e), from Middle French escec mat, from Arabic shāh māt, from Persian: literally, “the king (is) checked, nonplussed”
Explanation
Checkmate is a chess move that makes it impossible for your opponent to win. A checkmate can also be any kind of clear victory. In chess, a checkmate is a move that leaves your opponent with no more options: there is no move that won't result in you getting their king and therefore ending the game. Since a checkmate is so final, the word is used for other kinds of final victories. In basketball, a three-point shot that seals a win could be called a checkmate. In politics, a speech that wins votes and wraps up an election could be called a checkmate.
Vocabulary lists containing checkmate
Check It Out, Mate: Chess Vocabulary
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10 Words for Victory
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Garvey's Choice
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Because Leela had, in a sense, learned to extend games as long as it wasn’t losing, it didn’t always take the most direct path to checkmate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
But the moment Washington forced an error by the Broncos’ defense, the Huskies called checkmate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2025
If this is supposed to be some 4-D chess move, it looks an awful lot like checkmate — for the wrong side.
From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2025
Ackman presented the director’s allyship as a checkmate even though, once again, neither he nor Oxman denied any of the reporting on the substance.
From Slate ● Jan. 10, 2024
Galileo’s discovery of the moons of Jupiter was not like checkmate, or winning a race: he did not plan for it or see it coming.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
The finale presents a remarkable range of checkmates for the hapless Black king: 24.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 21, 2023
Rxa8, and White soon to be queened pawn will help deliver checkmates in a couple of moves.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 8, 2022
She exploits every scrap of ironic humor, as Richard gloatingly checkmates all who stand in her way.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 19, 2018
Karjakin threatened no less than four checkmates, and there’s no way Carlsen could have sidestepped them all.
From Slate ● Dec. 1, 2016
In sixty seconds flat, she checkmates her opponent’s king.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
But unlike the megahits “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera,” “Chess” was checkmated shortly after it arrived in New York in a swell of London fanfare.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
"She's almost checkmated herself. She can't U-turn. And pressing on seems terminal too," a former Downing Street spinner observes.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2022
It insisted the game was a draw, even though I had thoroughly checkmated my kid.
From The Verge ● Nov. 5, 2021
On the surface, it seemed that Thiel’s conspiracy had checkmated Gawker Media.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 23, 2018
Papa had just checkmated Jaja when we heard the martial music on the radio, the solemn strains making us stop to listen.
From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
That is as humiliating as it gets — to have somebody say, “You suck, Uncle Jake,” spelled wrong while checkmating me.
From New York Times ● Jan. 27, 2024
Partly that was because of the checkmating defense by his old coach, Bill Belichick, and partly it was the pelting rain and chill winds, which had once been his home-field allies.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 4, 2021
Harris was also asked about Chargers receiver Keenan Allen’s dismissive comments about Harris last week after the Broncos star cornerback was primarily responsible for checkmating the league’s top receiver in Denver’s 20-13 win.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 15, 2019
They imagined they could corral him and use him to achieve their own purposes, such as checkmating labor unions and reasserting German strength.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 19, 2018
Crime interests me only when it resembles a clever game of chess, with many intricate moves which all tend to one solution, the checkmating of the antagonist—the detective force of the country.
From The Old Man in the Corner by Emmuska Orczy, Baroness Orczy
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
