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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
Brian J. Rogal, Chicago Tribune, 10 July 2025
Next season’s Eastern Conference will be ground zero of the NBA’s parity gambit, molded into the shape of competition the league set in motion over the past half-decade.
—Jared Weiss, New York Times, 8 July 2025
The outcome of Pakistan's Bitcoin gambit could influence the future of international finance far beyond its borders.
—Arafat Kabir, Forbes.com, 26 June 2025
Finally came this latest Heat gambit, with the Suns making Durant available ahead of the final year of his contract.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 22 June 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 21 Jul. 2025.
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