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• ante
  ante

  noun

  a fixed but arbitrary stake put into the pot by each player before the deal.
• ante-
  ante-

  a prefix meaning “before,” used in the formation of compound words.

ante

¹ American  

[an-tee] / ˈæn ti /

noun

• antes
  plural

1. Poker. a fixed but arbitrary stake put into the pot by each player before the deal.

2. an amount of money paid in advance to insure an individual's share in a joint business venture.

3. Informal. an individual's share of the total expenses incurred by a group.

4. Informal. the price or cost of something.

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verb (used with object)

• antes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• anted,
  past participle,  past
• anteed,
  past participle,  past
• anteing
  present participle

1. Poker. to put (one's initial stake) into the pot.

2. to produce or pay (one's share) (usually followed byup ).

   He anted up his half of the bill.

verb (used without object)

• antes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• anted,
  past participle,  past
• anteed,
  past participle,  past
• anteing
  present participle

1. Poker. to put one's initial stake into the pot.

2. Informal. to pay (usually followed byup ).

ante- ² American  

1. a prefix meaning “before,” used in the formation of compound words.

   anteroom; antebellum; antedate.

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ante ¹ British  

/ ˈæntɪ /

noun

1. the gaming stake put up before the deal in poker by the players

2. informal a sum of money representing a person's share, as in a syndicate

3. informal to increase the costs, risks, or considerations involved in taking an action or reaching a conclusion

   whenever they reached their goal, they upped the ante by setting more complex challenges for themselves

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verb

1. to place (one's stake) in poker

2. informal (usually foll by up) to pay

ante- ² British  

prefix

1. before in time or position; previous to; in front of

   antedate

   antechamber

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• antes
  plural

Participles

• anteing
  present
• anted
  past
• anteed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• ante
  simple
• antes
  simple
• have anted
  perfect
• have anteed
  perfect
• has anted
  perfect
• has anteed
  perfect
• am anteing
  progressive
• are anteing
  progressive
• is anteing
  progressive
• have been anteing
  perfect progressive
• has been anteing
  perfect progressive

Past

• anted
  simple
• anteed
  simple
• had anted
  perfect
• had anteed
  perfect
• was anteing
  progressive
• were anteing
  progressive
• had been anteing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will ante
  simple
• will have anted
  perfect
• will have anteed
  perfect
• will be anteing
  progressive
• will have been anteing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of ante¹

First recorded in 1830–40, independent use of ante-

Origin of ante-²

From Latin, prefixal form of preposition and adverb ante ( see ancient ¹); akin to Greek antí, Old English and- “against, toward, opposite.” See answer, and, anti-

Explanation

In poker, the ante is the money each player puts in the pot before the hand begins. Hesitate to add your cash and the dealer will likely shout "ante up!" There's "ante up" and then there's "up the ante" — both idioms that have seeped out of the poker world into everyday speech. The former means to pay up; the latter means to raise the stakes or make something either more risky or more desirable. Parents can really up the ante by promising their kids a trip to Disney World if they bring home all As at report card time.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ante ante- antes anted anteed anteing

If the championship battle had any jeopardy remaining in it, that would certainly up the ante.

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026

Do you feel like you’ve upped the ante —

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

In essence, the neighboring sale upped the ante as far as Behar’s listing was concerned—and also encouraged her agents to start thinking about other ways they could prove the home’s potential to prospective buyers.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026

“They see an opportunity to up the ante, and they’re going to take it.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

Orbital flights—which sent the astronaut on one or more ninety-minute circuits around the globe, passing out of visual and radio contact with Mission Control, flying over unfriendly territory—upped the ante by a factor.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

A close study of dermal changes may reveal whether a burn was ante- or post-mortem, according to one paper.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2025

The reality of an NHS stretched to it limits is: not enough midwives, too few anaesthetists on call, and ante- and postnatal care reduced to six-minute slots.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 13, 2018

All the ministers and great functionaries received presents, as a matter of course, and it was necessary to pave the pathway even of their ante- chambers with gold.

From History of the United Netherlands from the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce, 1607b by John Lothrop Motley

"But we have done business enough for to-day, and I will go and receive the ambassadors who have been waiting here for a long while in the ante- room."

From Louisa of Prussia and Her Times by L. (Luise) Mühlbach

The courtiers displayed their zeal with all the ardor, the passion, the furia francese, which is a national characteristic, and appears on the battle-field as well as in the ante- chamber.

From The Court of the Empress Josephine by Thomas Sergeant Perry

Barea, who as Bad Bunny rightly pointed out, “fue campeón antes que LeBron.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2023

The stakes were low, with antes ranging from $5 to $20, because the students were on tight budgets.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 28, 2022

If he hits a home run you take the whole thing and everyone antes again.

From Salon ● Mar. 9, 2013

Quite clearly, verbal antes are clearly being upped on both sides of the Atlantic in what remains very high stakes legal action.

From Time ● Jul. 6, 2011

Rocin is a Spanish word that means "nag" or "workhorse"; and antes means "before."

From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios

When Strug badly injured her ankle on a failed vault, and then anted up for another go, viewers cheered.

From Slate ● Jul. 31, 2021

Outlook: The Raptors did not do much in terms of adding talent from outside the organization this off-season, but they anted up a combined $165 million to retain Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka.

From New York Times ● Oct. 17, 2017

Each has anted up hundreds of millions of dollars to strengthen vulnerable buildings.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 13, 2016

And soon enough, Farris and Dan Wilks, brothers whose fracking services business had transformed them into billionaires, and their wives anted up $15 million.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 3, 2016

“I w anted to ask you about what happened,” I say.

From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins

"And did the man lose his horses entirely?" asked Flood, who had anteed up his last bean and joined us.

From The Log of a Cowboy A Narrative of the Old Trail Days by Andy Adams

And we anteed up a hundred  In the hands of Deacon Kedge For to be divided the follerin' Fo'th  'Mongst the boys that kep' the pledge.

From Poems by John Hay

Even after anteing up $400 million to the Community budget this year, Greece should come out ahead by more than $200 million, thanks to such perks as $184 million from the E.C.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the past month, more than 2,000 people a day have been anteing up $10 each to see Wynn's collection of 20 paintings, from Degas to Picasso.

From Time Magazine Archive

This may affect the enthusiasm of San Francisco or New York for anteing up again.

From Time Magazine Archive

This week investors were anteing $5,249,200 for the 198,083 K. & T. shares sold by the Kearneys.

From Time Magazine Archive

Cuthbert's $50 anteing chip was in the middle of the table.

From Taking Chances by Clarence L. Cullen