Showing results for "dice"

• plural of die.

dice

American  

[dahys] / daɪs /

plural noun

die singular

1. small cubes of plastic, ivory, bone, or wood, marked on each side with one to six spots, usually used in pairs in games of chance or in gambling.

2. poker dice.

3. any of various games, especially gambling games, played by shaking and throwing from two to six dice or poker dice onto a flat surface.

4. any small cubes.

5. Auto Racing. a jockeying for lead position between two or more drivers in which tactics are used to pass or keep from being passed.

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verb (used with object)

dices, present (3rd person singular) diced, past participle, past dicing present participle

1. to cut into small cubes.

2. to decorate with cubelike figures.

3. to lose by gambling with dice (often followed byaway ).

verb (used without object)

dices, present (3rd person singular) diced, past participle, past dicing present participle

1. to play at dice.

2. to cause or bring about by gambling with dice.

3. Auto Racing. to duel with another car or cars in a dice.

idioms

1. no dice, of no use or help; ineffective.

dice British  

/ daɪs /

plural noun

1. cubes of wood, plastic, etc, each of whose sides has a different number of spots (1 to 6), used in games of chance and in gambling to give random numbers

2. Also called: die.  (functioning as singular) one of these cubes

3. small cubes as of vegetables, chopped meat, etc

4. slang an expression of refusal or rejection

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verb

1. to cut (food, etc) into small cubes

2. (intr) to gamble with or play at a game involving dice

3. (intr) to take a chance or risk (esp in the phrase dice with death )

4. informal (tr) to abandon or reject

5. (tr) to decorate or mark with dicelike shapes

dice More Idioms  

1. see load the dice; no deal (dice).

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Usage

Plural word for dice Dice is the plural form of the singular noun die, referring to a small cube of plastic, ivory, or other material, marked on each side with one to six spots. The more standard English plural form dies is used for other senses of the word die but not for the small cube. Dice derives directly from this irregular noun’s original pluralization in Middle English. Dice is sometimes treated as both a singular and plural form of die. The singular die is less commonly used.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• dicer
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• dicing
  present
• diced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• dice
  simple
• dices
  simple
• have diced
  perfect
• has diced
  perfect
• am dicing
  progressive
• are dicing
  progressive
• is dicing
  progressive
• have been dicing
  perfect progressive
• has been dicing
  perfect progressive

Past

• diced
  simple
• had diced
  perfect
• was dicing
  progressive
• were dicing
  progressive
• had been dicing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will dice
  simple
• will have diced
  perfect
• will be dicing
  progressive
• will have been dicing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of dice

1300–50; Middle English dees, dis, dyce (singular and plural), dyces (plural) < Old French de(i)z, dés (plural); see die ²

Explanation

Dice are what you roll when you're playing Yahtzee or Monopoly; they are two cubes marked with dots on each side that represent the numbers one through six. The noun dice is the plural form of the singular die. Although many people use the word dice when they're talking about a single die, it's actually only correct to call two or more of the dotted cubes dice. You can also use the word as a verb to mean "chop into tiny pieces or cubes." You might, for example, read a recipe instruction that says: "Dice three tomatoes."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dice die dices diced dicing

Choosing to take Social Security at 62 versus 70 is a roll of the dice.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026

Games at the time were divided into immoral activities, chance-based competitions like dice, and virtuous ones, competitions that required skill like chess.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

And this time the roll of the dice didn’t work, with Turkey getting its only win of the tournament on its last touch of the World Cup.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026

Russell's references to luck refer to a series of situations where the dice have very much fallen in Antonelli's favour.

From BBC ● May 25, 2026

Likewise with dice: the probability of rolling a 7 with a pair of dice is 1/6, the same as the conditional probability of rolling a 7 given that the three previous rolls have been 7s.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

Sooner or later, he believes "corals will die out without intervention".

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

"Having so many die in just two years was unprecedented."

From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026

“Are we going to wait until 70 more die to do something?” asked Marlom Portillo, an educator with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, as he staked more crosses into the ground.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

"To be boring is to die right there on the spot," she added in a newsletter to fans, external.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

“Twenty years since slavery and still striving. Will, you’ll be your own man with your own land. Else I’ll die trying.”

From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

As an adult, you realize more and more how money slices and dices us into First Class and Priority, the not you’s and the not yets, the zip codes and carets.

From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2024

Yu fries as well as he slices and dices.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 20, 2022

Best of all, Baldessari’s question slices and dices received wisdom with rapier wit.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 7, 2020

At Wellesley College, Dr. Angela Carpenter teaches the foundation of language creation, which she dices into roughly six blocks: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, grammatical rules of verbs, and nouns and what they indicate.

From The Verge ● Feb. 7, 2020

“It dices, it slices! But wait! There’s more!”

From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman

Myka’s fro-yo is served with toppings like extra-virgin olive oil, diced figs, Maldon salt and a hazelnut cream mixed with the crunch of kataifi, an ingredient made famous by Dubai chocolate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

In addition to French green lentils, you’ll need a medium yellow onion, carrots, garlic, bay leaf, vegetable broth, diced cooked ham, olive oil, cracked black pepper, sea salt and za’atar.

From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2026

Their defenses were diced up by opposing quarterbacks at crucial moments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026

A recent hypnotic percussion piece of diced rhythms and pureed textures is called “the so-called laws of nature.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2025

Heylmun settled on pasta preceded by roasted-pumpkin chowder with a sprinkling of celery and onion, finished with crème fraîche and bacon-braised cranberry beans garnished with diced pumpkin, fried sage, and toasted pumpkin seeds.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

The bank is undergoing a shake-up under Chief Executive Georges Elhedery, who took over in the fall of 2024 and has set about cutting staff and slicing and dicing divisions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 2, 2025

In-between dicing up celery and stirring bubbling meals, which will be distributed to the local area, he's learning more about the charity and what they do.

From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2024

I am disappointed, once again, to experience the continual and consistent slicing and dicing of what was once a great daily publication.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2023

This slicing and dicing of responsibility and accountability has not only failed to manage the space—it has affirmatively made matters worse, and it threatens to continue doing so if we don’t fix it.

From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2023

The guest bathroom has to be perfect, and Hana and I are forced to be Momma’s prep cooks with lots of dicing and measuring and cleaning up after.

From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée