- present participle of gamble.
gambling
Americannoun
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the activity or practice of playing at a game of chance for money or other stakes.
-
the act or practice of risking the loss of something important by taking a chance or acting recklessly.
If you don't back up your data, that's gambling.
Etymology
Origin of gambling
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.
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
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
Alabama originally sued TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance in April 2025, alleging the app was engineered to hook young users "just like a sophisticated gambling machine."
From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026
Former regulators from the CFTC, Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service said the level of attempted fraud and Polymarket’s response was atypical for the commodities and gambling industries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Women and men wave their gambling tokens in the air.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
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.
