gamble
Americanverb (used without object)
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gambles,
present (3rd person singular)
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gambled,
past participle, past
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gambling
present participle
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to play at any game of chance for money or other stakes.
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to stake or risk money, or anything of value, on the outcome of something involving chance.
to gamble on a toss of the dice.
verb (used with object)
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gambles,
present (3rd person singular)
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gambled,
past participle, past
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gambling
present participle
-
to lose or squander by betting (usually followed byaway ).
He gambled all his hard-earned money away in one night.
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to wager or risk (money or something else of value).
to gamble one's freedom.
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to take a chance on; venture; risk.
I'm gambling that our new store will be a success.
noun
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gambles
plural
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any matter or thing involving risk or hazardous uncertainty.
- Synonyms:
- flier, speculation, hazard, venture
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a venture in a game of chance for stakes, especially for high stakes.
verb
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(intr) to play games of chance to win money
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to risk or bet (money) on the outcome of an event, sport, etc
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to act with the expectation of
to gamble on its being a sunny day
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(often foll by away) to lose by or as if by betting; squander
noun
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a risky act or venture
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a bet, wager, or other risk or chance taken for possible monetary gain
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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gamblernoun
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gamblingnoun
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nongamblernoun
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regambleverb
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outgambleverb (used with object)
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overgambleverb (used with object)
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antigamblingadjective
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progamblingadjective
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ungambledadjective
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ungamblingadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gamblesimple
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gamblessimple
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have gambledperfect
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has gambledperfect
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am gamblingprogressive
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are gamblingprogressive
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is gamblingprogressive
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have been gamblingperfect progressive
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has been gamblingperfect progressive
Past
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gambledsimple
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had gambledperfect
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was gamblingprogressive
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were gamblingprogressive
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had been gamblingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gamble
1150–1200; Middle English gamenen to play ( Old English gamenian ), with substitution of -le for -en; see game 1
Explanation
When you gamble, you take a risky chance on something. When an entrepreneur invests her own money in her business, she gambles on its success. If you approach a stray dog, you gamble on its friendliness, and if you turn down a high-paying job to take a more interesting position, you gamble on it eventually paying off. Another way to gamble is to buy a lottery ticket or place a bet on a poker hand: when you gamble like this, you play a game of chance, risking some amount of money. Gamble is from Old English gammlen, "to play, jest, or be merry."
Vocabulary lists containing gamble
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.
See Examples For:
How do advisers handle clients who love to gamble?
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
That more cautious approach to risk can be seen beyond investing, with women more likely to choose certainty when faced with a financial gamble.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Now she is embarking on perhaps the biggest gamble of them all.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
The get-rich-quick desire never goes away, but the gamification of trading, and fees cut to zero, made it easier to gamble on stocks than ever.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
With all my anxieties, my sense of taking a last desperate gamble, and so on, I had not been realistic enough to believe him.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Here, Holland’s Telemachus gambles Athena is hiding inside half the people he meets until his father chides, “Don’t look for gods in men, you’ll just be disappointed.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Having just raised $122 billion in new funds at a valuation of $852 billion, OpenAI can probably afford a few speculative gambles.
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
You don’t want to end up like this lost soul, lugging his giant gambles through the hellscape of his own mind:
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026
This isn't a period to make short-term gambles.
From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2025
They, too, were gambles, rolls of the dice.
From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez
Tammy Wales, a travel agent from Ringgold, Ga., said she gambled on a mystery trip for research purposes: “I’m always looking for the best deals.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
From the messy set of ‘Apocalypse Now’ to the secret edits of ‘Star Wars,’ author Paul Fischer pulls back the curtain on how Coppola, Lucas and Spielberg gambled their friendships to build the modern blockbuster.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
"Like many legacy automakers it gambled on motorists making a quick move to EVs - and lost as the world shifted."
From BBC ● May 14, 2026
That means Disney and ABC either chose to disregard its existence, or gambled – correctly, it turns out – that the public wouldn’t bother to look too deeply into what happened.
From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2026
And she’d gambled that her note was vague enough to seem innocuous if anyone else saw it, but specific enough for Max to understand.
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
“Nothing about these contracts is an investment. Nothing about them is a rational hedge for a financial position. They are pure and simple gambling vehicles running through a U.S. government-regulated exchange,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
“I think the mainstreaming and financialization of gambling may be one of the most significant developments in financial services in the last decade,” Nadig said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Studies showing younger investors believe gambling is a reasonable path to wealth creation, and not all that different from investing, “concerns me deeply,” Liz Ann Sonders said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
"It doesn't always feel like movements are driven by rational reasons - sometimes it still feels a lot like gambling," he says.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Nine of us now seem to feel that the defendant is innocent, but we’re just gambling on probabilities.
From "Twelve Angry Men" by Reginald Rose
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.
