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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.
Synonyms
Examples of gambit in a Sentence
Allan Mitchell, The Athletic, 3 Jan. 2025
That’s the gambit of a new promotion Cinemark locations are rolling out later this month in which the theater chain will allow fans to BYOB.
—Brian Welk, IndieWire, 2 Jan. 2025
Failing to file is a risky gambit in that penalties are about $600/day per infraction and two years of jail time is even permitted under the statute.
—Martin Shenkman, Forbes, 25 Dec. 2024
Whether the ghoulish gambit of the movie’s Christmas release pays off remains to be seen.
—Mike Calia, NBC News, 24 Dec. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near gambit
Cite this Entry
“Gambit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gambit. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025.
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