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:
Nearly lost the car on slicks during the formation procedure and ultimately fell all the way to 16th as Alpine's gamble failed to pay off.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
The gamble - spending its entire basketball budget on Jordan before he had even competed in the NBA - made Nike what it is today.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
They saw the ARM as a necessary gamble, the couple told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
JSerra head coach Hardy Nickerson opted to go for it on fourth down, and Cloutier rewarded his gamble, scoring on an 11-yard run.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
Now, opening the door was always a gamble.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
But if the gambles fail, the clients lose their shirts, but the managers do not have to cover 20% of the losses.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
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
"During my 17 years in charge there were highs, lows, successes, failures, huge gambles and many mistakes along the way," Watt said.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2026
They, too, were gambles, rolls of the dice.
From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez
For those who gambled on him early, Kane proved a bargain.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
“At this point, everyone I know knows someone whose husband has gambled away all their money,” political influencer Emily Amick, 41, whose book club feverishly discussed “Strangers.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 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
The moves were a complete departure from last year, when the Rams wrongly gambled that a young and aggressive pass rush could offset their decision to not make a single upgrade to the secondary.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026
She had gambled on the family’s foolishness and self-delusion, and she had won by a length, as they say at the Derby.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Both converged last month on Jacob Coxon, a 27-year-old researcher who quit Anthropic warning that AI companies were "gambling with our lives."
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
The Prison Radio Association's series about problem gambling, Hold or Fold, won the overall top prize for best podcast, and the award for best factual podcast.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
An outrageous score, with an outrageous slice of luck presuming Carreras was gambling to get anything on the ball, rather than plotting that particular flightpath.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled against prediction-market operator Kalshi on Friday, saying Ohio and Tennessee can apply their gambling laws to its sports-related event contracts.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
Tire peace dividend changed the region once again, and now it is best known for the great gambling casinos of Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods and for the pharmaceutical researchers of Pfizer.
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
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.
