checkmate

[chek-meyt]

See more synonyms for checkmate on Thesaurus.com

noun

Also called mate. Chess.
1. 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.
2. 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), check·mat·ed, check·mat·ing.

Chess. to maneuver (an opponent's king) into a check from which it cannot escape; mate.
to check completely; defeat: Napoleon was checkmated at Waterloo.

interjection

Chess. (used by a player to announce that he or she has put the opponent's king into inextricable check.)

Origin of checkmate

1300–50; Middle English chek mat(e) < Middle French escec mat < Arabic shāh māt < Persian: literally, the king (is) checked, nonplussed

Related formsun·check·mat·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for checkmate

thwart, stop, undo, frustrate, baffle, outwit, conquer, gain, defeat, corner, triumph, vanquish

Examples from the Web for checkmate

Contemporary Examples of checkmate

Under these circumstances many devices were resorted to to checkmate their political moves.
The Roots of Southern Voter Intimidation
David Frum
February 4, 2013
Once a case is made that a leak might be imminent, it is checkmate: the agent is thwarted.
Catching the Next WikiLeaker
Eli Lake
October 20, 2011

Historical Examples of checkmate

She got their whole plan and went along to try to checkmate them.
Poisoned Air
Sterner St. Paul Meek
He moved about the board with an assumption that said, I can checkmate you when I will!
Barrington
Charles James Lever
I can see that he is artfully intriguing for Mr. Wharton's favor, but I must checkmate him.
The Cash Boy
Horatio Alger Jr.
It was the cruellest thing to checkmate him after so much labour, she considered.
A Pair of Blue Eyes
Thomas Hardy
Therefore, it is imperative that we know Grant's plans so that we can checkmate them.
The Lost Despatch
Natalie Sumner Lincoln

British Dictionary definitions for checkmate

checkmate

noun

chess
1. the winning position in which an opponent's king is under attack and unable to escape
2. the move by which this position is achieved
utter defeat

verb (tr)

chess to place (an opponent's king) in checkmate
to thwart or render powerless

interjection

chess a call made when placing an opponent's king in checkmate

Word Origin for checkmate

C14: from Old French eschec mat, from Arabic shāh māt, the king is dead; see check

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for checkmate

mid-14c., from Old French eschec mat (Modern French échec et mat), which (with Spanish jaque y mate, Italian scacco-matto) is from Arabic shah mat "the king died" (see check (n.1)), which according to Barnhart is a misinterpretation of Persian mat "be astonished" as mata "to die," mat "he is dead." Hence Persian shah mat, if it is the ultimate source of the word, would be literally "the king is left helpless, the king is stumped."

late 14c.; see checkmate (n.). Related: Checkmated; checkmating.