chicane
Americannoun
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a bridge or whist hand without trumps
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motor racing a short section of sharp narrow bends formed by barriers placed on a motor-racing circuit to provide an additional test of driving skill
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a less common word for chicanery
verb
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(tr) to deceive or trick by chicanery
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(tr) to quibble about; cavil over
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(intr) to use tricks or chicanery
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of chicane
1665–75; < French chicane (noun), chicaner (v.), perhaps < Middle Low German schikken to arrange
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.
Antonelli came back at him on the outside into the chicane and was slightly ahead as they turned in, but he had to take to the run-off area.
From BBC • May 24, 2026
Hamilton's team-mate Leclerc took fourth after a subdued weekend, and a race in which he had a massive moment out of the final chicane but managed to hold the car without spinning.
From BBC • May 24, 2026
But that was before the Miami Grand Prix moved in—before the artificial marina, the aqua chicane or the race weekends that packed in 275,000 fans.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026
Their rookie British driver Arvid Lindblad spun at the Villeneuve chicane and the car had to be recovered on a truck.
From BBC • Jan. 20, 2026
There need be no chicane about the application of that title to Chloe or to Chariclea, to Leucippe or to her very remarkable rival, to Anthia or to Hysmine.
From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 From the Beginning to 1800 by Saintsbury, George
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.
