end game
or end·game
- Chess. the final stage of a game, usually following the exchange of queens and the serious reduction of forces.
- the late or final stages of any activity: the end game of the negotiations.
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Origin of end game
First recorded in 1880–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for end game
Contemporary Examples
And no end-game for any sort of involvement has yet been outlined by proponents of American action.
As Tony Karon put it on Twitter yesterday, what still dogs the Syria question is the "end-game problem."
Leave the end-game to America; Clinton and Morsi will work out the details.
Historical Examples
The handling of the King becomes of paramount importance once the end-game stage is reached.
Chess FundamentalsJos Ral Capablanca
Idioms and Phrases with end game
end game
The final stage of some process, as in The book discussed the diplomatic end game resulting in the treaty. This term, dating from about 1880, comes from chess, where it denotes the stage of a game when most of the pieces have been removed from the board. In the mid-1900s it began to be transferred to other activities.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.