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.
They’re running systems borrowed from gambling and behavioral psychology.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026
Dimon did say that betting on a prediction market is more similar to gambling than to investing.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 1, 2026
Prediction markets face more than 20 lawsuits across the country over whether their Yes/No bets on sports events should be subject to state gambling laws.
From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026
Though Rachel has restricted her own access to any sort of gambling sites, she does sometimes have the "pang" to go to the slot machine, but then remembers how far she has come.
From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026
"They're too emotionally involved. Clearly, so are you. I'm not gambling five additional lives to save one. Especially when we might save him without risking them at all."
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
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.
