gambling
Americannoun
-
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.
Some states are also in legal battles with the federal government over whether the activity amounts to gambling, which they seek to regulate.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 16, 2026
Most of gambling public is still backing the traditional proven winners to prevail, unlike the projection from Google’s Gemini.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 11, 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
“When the wind and the current are right, the poop from the gambling boat floats out of the basin and down the shoreline,” I said, “straight to Thunder Beach.”
From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen
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.
