play Russian roulette

[ (rooh-let) ]

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To gamble foolishly on a risky or potentially ruinous business. The expression refers to a deadly game in which a participant loads a revolver with one bullet, spins the cylinder, and fires at his own head: “If you drink and drive, you're playing Russian roulette with your life and the lives of others.”

QUIZ

ARE YOU A TRUE BLUE CHAMPION OF THESE "BLUE" SYNONYMS?

We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

Question 1 of 8

Which of the following words describes “sky blue”?

navy

beryl

azure

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

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Words nearby play Russian roulette

playpen, play politics, play possum, playreader, playroom, play Russian roulette, play safe, playschool, playscript, play second fiddle, PlayStation

How to use play Russian roulette in a sentence

Have there been discussions with FX regarding an Archer movie, and how do you think that would play out?
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Then came Bess Myerson, a daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants who was raised in the Sholem Aleichem Houses in the Bronx.
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Father Joel Román Salazar died in a car crash in 2013; his death was ruled an accident, but the suspicion of foul play persists.
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He plays an aging punk rocker and I play the drummer from his old band.
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When fathers hold and play with their children, oxytocin and prolactin kick in, priming them for bonding.
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I assure you, no matter how beautifully we play any piece, the minute Liszt plays it, you would scarcely recognize it!
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
But I hope at least to play to him a few times, and what is more important, to hear him play repeatedly.
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
To fill up the time till Liszt came, our hostess made us play, one after the other, beginning with the latest arrival.
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
Again the sallow fingers began to play with the book-covers, passing from one to another, but always slowly and gently.
Bella Donna|Robert Hichens
Her attachment to impressionism leads this artist to many experiments in color—or, as one critic wrote, "to play with color."
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement