gamble
Americanverb (used without object)
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to play at any game of chance for money or other stakes.
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to stake or risk money, or anything of value, on the outcome of something involving chance.
to gamble on a toss of the dice.
verb (used with object)
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to lose or squander by betting (usually followed byaway ).
He gambled all his hard-earned money away in one night.
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to wager or risk (money or something else of value).
to gamble one's freedom.
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to take a chance on; venture; risk.
I'm gambling that our new store will be a success.
noun
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any matter or thing involving risk or hazardous uncertainty.
- Synonyms:
- flier, speculation, hazard, venture
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a venture in a game of chance for stakes, especially for high stakes.
verb
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(intr) to play games of chance to win money
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to risk or bet (money) on the outcome of an event, sport, etc
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to act with the expectation of
to gamble on its being a sunny day
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(often foll by away) to lose by or as if by betting; squander
noun
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a risky act or venture
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a bet, wager, or other risk or chance taken for possible monetary gain
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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gamblernoun
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gamblingnoun
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nongamblernoun
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regambleverb
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outgambleverb (used with object)
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overgambleverb (used with object)
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antigamblingadjective
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progamblingadjective
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ungambledadjective
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ungamblingadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gamblesimple
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gamblessimple
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have gambledperfect
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has gambledperfect
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am gamblingprogressive
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are gamblingprogressive
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is gamblingprogressive
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have been gamblingperfect progressive
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has been gamblingperfect progressive
Past
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gambledsimple
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had gambledperfect
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was gamblingprogressive
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were gamblingprogressive
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had been gamblingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gamble
1150–1200; Middle English gamenen to play ( Old English gamenian ), with substitution of -le for -en; see game 1
Explanation
When you gamble, you take a risky chance on something. When an entrepreneur invests her own money in her business, she gambles on its success. If you approach a stray dog, you gamble on its friendliness, and if you turn down a high-paying job to take a more interesting position, you gamble on it eventually paying off. Another way to gamble is to buy a lottery ticket or place a bet on a poker hand: when you gamble like this, you play a game of chance, risking some amount of money. Gamble is from Old English gammlen, "to play, jest, or be merry."
Vocabulary lists containing gamble
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.
See Examples For:
It is that track record—and the low cost of the bet—that made it a gamble the Sixers couldn’t afford to skip.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Brindle added it’s “not surprising at all” that men said they were more likely to take on the gamble.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
Yet Brown got to Number 10 with a mixture of patience, caution, guile and ruthlessness, whereas Andy Burnham speedy rise was largely due to one major electoral gamble.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
These require huge amounts of capital investment and are a big gamble.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
With all my anxieties, my sense of taking a last desperate gamble, and so on, I had not been realistic enough to believe him.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Here, Holland’s Telemachus gambles Athena is hiding inside half the people he meets until his father chides, “Don’t look for gods in men, you’ll just be disappointed.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Having just raised $122 billion in new funds at a valuation of $852 billion, OpenAI can probably afford a few speculative gambles.
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
"During my 17 years in charge there were highs, lows, successes, failures, huge gambles and many mistakes along the way," Watt said.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2026
Industry observers noted during that time that their planned lineup for the year was dotted with films believed to be high-stakes gambles, including “One Battle After Another” and Zach Cregger’s horror flick “Weapons.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026
They, too, were gambles, rolls of the dice.
From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez
Bonilla had excelled with the Mets earlier in his career, and they gambled that he could recapture the production of his youth by taking on the last two years and $11.65 million of his contract.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
"Like many legacy automakers it gambled on motorists making a quick move to EVs - and lost as the world shifted."
From BBC ● May 14, 2026
“At this point, everyone I know knows someone whose husband has gambled away all their money,” political influencer Emily Amick, 41, whose book club feverishly discussed “Strangers.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
That means Disney and ABC either chose to disregard its existence, or gambled – correctly, it turns out – that the public wouldn’t bother to look too deeply into what happened.
From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2026
She had gambled on the fact that Ammu, whatever else she did, however angry she was, would never publicly admit to her relationship with Velutha.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
Put aside the broader question of whether predictions markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are simply dressed-up gambling forums that are already illegal under many states’ anti-gaming laws.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
While prosecutors alleged he raked in roughly $50 million in poker winnings in 2016 alone, Goldstein estimated that he ultimately lost about $10 million through the peaks and valleys of his gambling.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Reductions to tax relief for vape shops and gambling arcades will help to pay for the £100 million a year cost of the measure.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Villa needed to replace Bentano after Premier League clubs agreed to withdraw gambling sponsorship from the front of their matchday shirts by the end of last season.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Papi says it did have gambling once, but that was in the 1930s, a long time before anybody in our family was even in this country.
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
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.
