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Don’t let the similarities of sound and general flavor between gambit and gamble trip you up; the two words are unrelated. Gambit first appeared in English in a 1656 chess handbook that was said to feature almost a hundred illustrated gambetts. Gambett traces back first to the Spanish word gambito, and before that to the Italian gambetto, from gamba meaning “leg.” Gambetto referred to the act of tripping someone, as in wrestling, in order to gain an advantage. In chess, gambit (or gambett, as it was once spelled) originally referred to a chess opening whereby the bishop’s pawn is intentionally sacrificed—or tripped—to gain an advantage in position. Gambit is now applied to many other chess openings, but after being pinned down for years, it also finally broke free of chess’s hold and is used generally to refer to any “move,” whether literal or rhetorical, done to get a leg up, so to speak. While such moves can be risky, gambit is not synonymous with gamble, which likely comes from Old English gamen, meaning “amusement, jest, pastime”—source too of game.
Examples of gambit in a Sentence
Jackie Snow, Quartz, 29 Mar. 2025
An older African American painter Ed Clark (1926-2019) had pioneered this gambit earlier by painting with a janitor’s push broom.
—Holland Cotter, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2025
And both Team Johnson and complicit aldermen should be ashamed this ham-handed gambit was kept under wraps when those affected could have had a say.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].
—The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 18 Mar. 2025
The venom used in this gambit is not produced by the octopus itself, but is derived from symbiotic bacteria that live within its body.
—William Lambers, Newsweek, 10 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for gambit
Cite this Entry
“Gambit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gambit. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.
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