Russian roulette

noun

1

: an act of bravado consisting of spinning the cylinder of a revolver loaded with one cartridge, pointing the muzzle at one's own head, and pulling the trigger

2

: something resembling Russian roulette in its potential for disaster

taking cocaine is playing Russian roulette

—Jonathan Nicholas

Examples of Russian roulette in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Reduced to occasionally doing commercials for used cars, and spending most of his days drinking, despairing, and sporadically playing Russian roulette in a retirement home for actors, the curmudgeonly Montana has a death wish that only sheer luck has kept him from fulfilling. —Joe Leydon, Variety, 5 Mar. 2025

Stories of the violence committed under Burge — including beatings, electric shock, suffocation with typewriter covers and games of Russian roulette — proved to have a long reach. —Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 24 Feb. 2025

This backfills how Reacher was able to play Russian roulette thrice without dying. —Chris Klimek, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2025

Probabilities may seem abstract, but think of it like Russian roulette: Our lives are at stake, and the fossil fuel industry keeps adding bullets to the cylinder. —Jordan Thomas, Twin Cities, 30 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1937, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for Russian roulette

• electrojet
• marionette
• plantagenet
• videlicet
• abet
• asset
• baguette
• banquette
• barbette
• beget
• beset
• brevet