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Synonyms

numbers game

British  

noun

  1. Often shortened to: numbers.  an illegal lottery in which money is wagered on a certain combination of digits appearing at the beginning of a series of numbers published in a newspaper, as in share prices or sports results

"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

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.

"In the end, it's a numbers game and a space game," Carrick explained.

From BBC • Jan. 12, 2026

It’s a numbers game, meticulously filling notebooks in handwriting Silverman describes as “tiny letters all perfectly the same size,” then revisiting and sharpening material until the joke emerges, like a vision.

From Los Angeles Times • May 17, 2025

If the case for appointing new cardinals under the next Pope is a numbers game then Scotland's case is not helped by its declining Catholic population.

From BBC • May 7, 2025

Although the lottery is less of a numbers game and more about luck, participants should keep in mind an important figure: 41 million.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 1, 2024

Instead, the staff played a sterile numbers game, seeking to impose a strict ratio everywhere.

From Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940-1965 by MacGregor, Morris J.

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.