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  • gamy
    gamy
    adjective
    having the tangy flavor or odor of game.
  • -gamy
    -gamy
    a combining form with the meanings “marriage,” “union,” “fertilization, pollination,” of the kind specified by the initial element: exogamy; plastogamy; allogamy; also forming nouns corresponding to adjectives ending in -gamous: heterogamy.
Synonyms

gamy

1 American  
[gay-mee] / ˈgeɪ mi /
Or gamey

adjective

gamier, gamiest
  1. having the tangy flavor or odor of game.

    I like the gamy taste of venison.

  2. having the flavor or odor of game or other meat kept uncooked until slightly tainted.

    The roast was still edible but was slightly gamy.

  3. plucky; spirited.

  4. lewd or suggestive; risqué.

  5. gross or squalid; unwholesome.


-gamy 2 American  
  1. a combining form with the meanings “marriage,” “union,” “fertilization, pollination,” of the kind specified by the initial element: exogamy; plastogamy; allogamy; also forming nouns corresponding to adjectives ending in -gamous: heterogamy.


-gamy British  

combining form

  1. denoting marriage or sexual union

    bigamy

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

What does -gamy mean? The combining form -gamy is used like a suffix with a variety of meanings. In terms from botany, it typically means "fertilization, pollination.“ In other contexts, -gamy is used to mean "marriage" or "union."The form -gamy is also used to form nouns related to terms ending in -gamous. It is often used in scientific terms, especially in biology. The form -gamy comes from Greek -gamía, meaning “act of marrying.”What are variants of -gamy?While -gamy doesn't have any variants, it is related to the form -gamous, as in cleistogamous. Additional combining forms of the same general origin include gamet-, gameto-, and gamo-. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles for the forms.

Other Word Forms


Etymology

Origin of gamy1

First recorded in 1835–45; game 1 + -y 1

Origin of -gamy2

Combining form representing Greek -gamía “act of marrying”


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:

Plus, the horror has a purpose, beyond gamy genre thrills.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2023

Meat offers up a sinewy, gamy, savory experience that is, to date, impossible to reproduce.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 7, 2022

Lamb is pretty gamy, but I love the specific flavor lamb brings to any dish.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2022

The goat remains the stunner of the menu, impossibly creamy, with a hint of gamy flair.

From New York Times ● Sep. 5, 2019

The air is dense with the chattering of shoemakers and the gamy scents of leather and tannin and dye.

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir

Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup, usually made with beef or chicken — but turkey adds a rich, gamier spin on the comforting classic.

From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2021

This blend works best on darker, gamier meat like turkey, duck, and goose.

From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2021

Here they have morphed into something glitzier and gamier.

From New York Times ● Jan. 18, 2018

The Victorians found the picture gamier than we would.

From Time Magazine Archive

The quail egg Runt had brought was smaller, its speckled shell flecked with dried grass, and it smelled gamier than the ones his humans ate.

From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker

R. 26—This proved so far the gamiest round in the fight, give and take being the order of the day, but Marr finally proved himself high cock-a-lorum, and won the round.

From Slate ● Jun. 2, 2019

James A. Stillman, late National City Banker, heir to millions, and co-star of one of the gamiest divorce suits of the '20s, turned out to have died deep in debt.

From Time Magazine Archive

Not long after her husband, Robert John Herwig, an All-America footballer, brought home a book on King Charles II, she decided to write a novel about the reign of Britain's gamiest monarch.

From Time Magazine Archive

His first whiff of electioneering was Georgia politics at its gamiest.

From Time Magazine Archive

The fishin' party 'ad gone out on the reefs after rockfish, which is one of the gamiest fighters we 'ave 'ere, and some of 'em runs up to fifty and sixty pounds.

From The Boy With the U. S. Fisheries by Francis Rolt-Wheeler

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