ante

¹ American  

[an-tee] / ˈæn ti /

noun

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)

anted, anteed, anteing

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)

anted, anteed, anteing

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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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 ( ancient ¹ ); akin to Greek antí, Old English and- “against, toward, opposite.” See answer, and, anti-

Example Sentences

So he upped the ante and gave himself a fake heart attack.

From Literature

Every day, there could be new ads upping the ante until one of them leaves the Golden State.

From Los Angeles Times

Brady upped the ante after Sports Illustrated playfully asked how many WWE wrestlers it would take to sack him.

From Los Angeles Times

Japan's defence minister upped the ante by saying on Tuesday that Tokyo planned to deploy surface-to-air missiles on one of its remote western islands located near Taiwan by early 2031.

From Barron's

Google managed to up the ante Wednesday with its own plan to spend as much as $185 billion this year, which would be about double last year’s outlay.

From The Wall Street Journal