marbles
Britishnoun
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(functioning as singular) a game in which marbles are rolled at one another, similar to bowls
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informal (functioning as plural) wits
to lose one's marbles
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.
Before you scream, burst out laughing, or think I have lost my marbles, of course, there are very big differences between them.
From BBC • Feb. 28, 2026
The simulations track gas behavior at the microscopic level as particles move, collide, and exchange energy, much like marbles striking one another.
From Science Daily • Nov. 10, 2025
The book was clearly fiction — featuring characters such as an absurdly monastic Bolivian radio-novela writer who loses his marbles and begins to confuse his characters and his plots.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2025
You must sort these marbles by color within the test tubes.
From Slate • Dec. 28, 2024
While they ate, everyone except Shirley played marbles or cards and traded bottle caps and pictures of men swinging a stick or wearing one huge glove.
From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
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.
