gambling
Americannoun
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the activity or practice of playing at a game of chance for money or other stakes.
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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.
LAS VEGAS—A trip to this desert city once meant dirt-cheap hotel rooms and buffets, all subsidized by gambling revenue.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 19, 2026
Now, instead of gambling on an outsider, they have turned once again to the safest of safe bets.
From BBC • Jun. 11, 2026
Options, meanwhile, are expected to be tradable by June 16, an event that should whip stock trading into a frenzy of gambling.
From Barron's • Jun. 10, 2026
A month away from its closure, onetime gambling oasis Primm, Nev., located along the state border with Southern California, has a new lease on life.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
“Not a gambling kind of bet,” I explained.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
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.
