lottery

[lot-uh-ree]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR lottery ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural lot·ter·ies.

a gambling game or method of raising money, as for some public charitable purpose, in which a large number of tickets are sold and a drawing is held for certain prizes.

any scheme for the distribution of prizes by chance.

any happening or process that is or appears to be determined by chance: to look upon life as a lottery.

Origin of lottery

First recorded in 1560–70, lottery is from the Middle Dutch word loterie (whence also French loterie). See lot, -ery

Related formsan·ti·lot·ter·y, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for lottery

raffle, gambling, sweepstake, chance, lotto

Examples from the Web for lottery

Contemporary Examples of lottery

Selecting legislators by lottery was good enough for the ancient Athenians.
Is It Time to Take a Chance on Random Representatives?
Michael Schulson
November 8, 2014
No matter how much money the Koch brothers or Tom Steyer spend, they cannot convince a lottery to choose one person over another.
Is It Time to Take a Chance on Random Representatives?
Michael Schulson
November 8, 2014
Pathways offers employment services no matter the intensiveness of the disability (they have a lottery system).
Hiring People With Disabilities Isn’t Just the Right Thing to Do—It’s Good for Business
Elizabeth Picciuto
October 27, 2014
On the flip side, when you draw a Travis Wall contemporary routine, you must be like, “I hit the lottery!”
'So You Think You Can Dance' Winner Ricky Ubeda Is Adorable, and Tired
Kevin Fallon
September 4, 2014
It is playing the lottery, and while the odds are stacked against it, sometimes people win the lottery.
ISIS Risks Everything to Declare a Caliphate
J.M. Berger
June 29, 2014

Historical Examples of lottery

We put into a lottery for a beefsteak pudding, and it is impossible to say what we may get.
Life And Adventures Of Martin Chuzzlewit
Charles Dickens
It was at the time when the Chamber was asked to authorise the issue of lottery stock.
The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete
Emile Zola
If he could, publishing would be less of a lottery than it is.
One Day's Courtship
Robert Barr
Every unbroken colt is like a ticket in a lottery; it may be easy, or it may be a tartar.
The Night Riders
Ridgwell Cullum
The lottery was to be publicly drawn the first of February, 1750.
The Phantom World
Augustin Calmet

British Dictionary definitions for lottery

lottery

noun plural -teries

a method of raising money by selling numbered tickets and giving a proportion of the money raised to holders of numbers drawn at random

a similar method of raising money in which players select a small group of numbers out of a larger group printed on a ticket. If a player's selection matches some or all of the numbers drawn at random the player wins a proportion of the prize fund

an activity or endeavour the success of which is regarded as a matter of fate or luck

Word Origin for lottery

C16: from Old French loterie, from Middle Dutch loterije. See lot

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

Word Origin and History for lottery

1560s, "arrangement for a distribution of prizes by chance," from Italian lotteria, from lotto "lot, portion, share," from same root as Old English hlot (see lot). Cf. Middle French loterie, from Middle Dutch loterje, from lot (n.).