casino
Americannoun
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a building or large room used for meetings, entertainment, dancing, etc., especially such a place equipped with gambling devices, gambling tables, etc.
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(in Italy) a small country house or lodge.
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Cards. Also cassino a game in which cards that are face up on the table are taken with eligible cards in the hand.
noun
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a public building or room in which gaming takes place, esp roulette and card games such as baccarat and chemin de fer
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a variant spelling of cassino
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of casino
1780–90; < Italian, equivalent to cas(a) “house” + -ino diminutive suffix
Explanation
A casino is a building where people can gamble and play games of chance. Your grandmother might enjoy taking weekend bus trips to the nearest casino with her friends. Many casinos are near — or inside — hotels, and include opportunities to dine, drink, and shop. The main event at a casino, however, is the chance to gamble either by betting money on games like blackjack or poker, or by putting coins in a slot machine. Casino is also the name of a card game. The word comes from the Italian casa, or "house." In the 1800s casino came to mean "building for aristocratic gambling."
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.
The men targeted several casinos in the county, including the Hustler Casino, Parkwest Bicycle Casino and the Commerce Casino & Hotel, according to the plea agreements.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2026
Gibson says reading Casino Royale revealed "how rich and complex the character is".
From BBC • May 24, 2026
Casino giants on the Strip are trying them this summer to lure back visitors.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026
Primm Valley Casino Resorts, the last full-time casino in Primm, on the California-Nevada border, is permanently closing.
From Los Angeles Times • May 8, 2026
So we played euchre on a dictionary balanced on his lap, and when that started to prove a bit much we switched to Casino.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
