gambit
/ˈɡæmbɪt/ noun, verb
Forms gambits gambiting gambited gambett
- noun (chess) An opening in chess in which material is sacrificed to gain an advantage. “Her clever gambit gave her an advantage.”
- noun Any ploy or stratagem. “Their promise to lower taxes is clearly an election-year gambit.”
- noun A remark intended to open a conversation.
- verb (chess, transitive) To sacrifice (a pawn or minor piece) to gain an advantage.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian gambetto (“act of tripping; gambit”), from gamba (“leg”) + -etto (diminutive suffix). First attested in 1656.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [F. gambit, cf. It. gambitto gambit, a tripping up. See Gambol, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “gambit”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details