zugzwang

[ tsook-tsvahng ]

nounChess.

a situation in which a player is limited to moves that cost pieces or have a damaging positional effect.

Origin of zugzwang

First recorded in 1900–05; from German, equivalent to Zug “move, pull” + Zwang “constraint, obligation”

Words Nearby zugzwang

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use zugzwang in a sentence

The Belarusian opposition is trapped in a zugzwang: personal casualties are the cost of their political progress.
Forget Kim Jong Un—China’s New Favorite Dictator Is Belarus’s Aleksandr Lukashenko. | Kapil Komireddi | January 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST

British Dictionary definitions for zugzwang

zugzwang

/ (German ˈtsuːktsvaŋ) chess /

noun

a position in which one player can move only with loss or severe disadvantage

verb

(tr) to manoeuvre (one's opponent) into a zugzwang

Origin of zugzwang

from German, from Zug a pull, tug + Zwang force, compulsion

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

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