gambling
Americannoun
-
the activity or practice of playing at a game of chance for money or other stakes.
-
the act or practice of risking the loss of something important by taking a chance or acting recklessly.
If you don't back up your data, that's gambling.
Etymology
Origin of gambling
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.
“From a cultural and marketing standpoint,” much of the ETF industry’s product development over the last year has been “highly speculative” or akin to gambling, Nadig said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2026
“People are actually trying to wedge gambling into every corner of the financial market right now,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2026
Lan said the sentence showed that unlicensed gambling was not a "victimless offence" and warned those who profit from it while ignoring safeguards designed to protect people "can expect to be brought before the courts".
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
Alabama originally sued TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance in April 2025, alleging the app was engineered to hook young users "just like a sophisticated gambling machine."
From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026
"Nay," I said, gambling that he would not strike me.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
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.
