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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
Peter D. Feaver, Foreign Affairs, 6 Nov. 2024
But while some radio DJs declined to play the song because of its implications of interracial romance, the gambit worked: the song hit No. 2 on the pop chart, priming the world for the album’s crossover ambitions.
—Andrew R. Chow, TIME, 4 Nov. 2024
But when the Colombian operatives carried out the sabotage, says a former senior official, the gambit was not as successful as initially hoped.
—Zach Dorfman, WIRED, 31 Oct. 2024
The gambit is part of a broader effort by Kennedy to remove his name in swing states, so his supporters vote for Trump, while remaining on the ballot elsewhere.
—Zach Schonfeld, The Hill, 30 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for gambit 
Dictionary Entries Near gambit
Cite this Entry
“Gambit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gambit. Accessed 17 Nov. 2024.
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