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There's no mystery about the origins of chicane. It's from the Middle French verb chicaner, meaning "to quibble" or "to prevent justice," and print evidence of its use as a verb in English dates to around 1672. The noun form of chicane was first used in print in 1686. In addition to referring to "trickery," the noun chicane is used to refer to an obstacle or a series of tight turns in opposite directions on a racecourse. In card games, chicane refers to the absence of trumps in a hand of cards. One curiosity of this word set is that the word that would appear to be a derivative of chicane-chicanery (a synonym of chicane in its "trickery" sense)-actually appeared in English over 60 years before chicane.
Examples of chicane in a Sentence
Yara Elshebiny, Forbes.com, 22 May 2025
Piastri made some positive progress with Verstappen-style moves at the Tamburello chicane (effectively the Imola track’s first corner).
—Luke Smith, New York Times, 18 May 2025
As the pair battled for the lead, Verstappen cut across a chicane which the race stewards deemed had given him an unfair advantage.
—Ben Church, CNN Money, 21 Apr. 2025
Drop in a couple of chicanes and Homestead’s road course was ready to go.
—David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 15 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for chicane
Cite this Entry
“Chicane.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chicane. Accessed 8 Jun. 2025.
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