gambling
noun
Simple meaning
An activity having a balance between winning and losing that is governed by a mixture of skill and chance.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
gambuhlingSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡæmbəlɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An activity characterized by a balance between winning and losing that is governed by a mixture of skill and chance, usually with money wagered on the outcome.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: An activity characterized by a balance between winning and losing that is governed by a mixture of skill and chance, usually with money wagered on the outcome.
Used this way, gambling is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use gambling
- “His gambling cost him a fortune.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Take a risk in the hope of a favorable outcome.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A person who wagers money on the outcome of games or sporting events.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A public building in which a variety of games of chance can be played (operated as a business).
A game that involves gambling.
A public building in which a variety of games of chance can be played (operated as a business).
A public building in which a variety of games of chance can be played (operated as a business).
A system of rules for placing bets that is believed to lead to winning.
A public building for gambling and entertainment.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: activity characterized by a balance between winning and losing that is governed by a mixture of skill and chance
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.