as in ruse
a clever often underhanded means to achieve an end
I couldn't tell whether her earlier poor-mouthing had been sincere or just a gambit to get me to pick up the dinner check
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Recent Examples of gambit
The bottom line: Manfred's local TV gambit relies on getting the big market clubs like the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers that own their RSN to play ball and pool their local TV revenue with smaller market teams.
—
Tim Baysinger, Axios, 25 Mar. 2025
Elon Musk is bringing back his most controversial gambit from the 2024 presidential election: paying voters as part of a plan to identify and turn out conservative-leaning ones.
—Theodore Schleifer, New York Times, 21 Mar. 2025
Microsoft now faces a perfect storm of challenges in its AI gambit: massive data center pullbacks, lagging stock performance relative to tech peers, growing tensions with OpenAI, and a market that may be showing some slow down in its interest in all things AI.
—Jackie Snow, Quartz, 29 Mar. 2025
An older African American painter Ed Clark (1926-2019) had pioneered this gambit earlier by painting with a janitor’s push broom.
—Holland Cotter, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for gambit
Tim Baysinger, Axios, 25 Mar. 2025
Elon Musk is bringing back his most controversial gambit from the 2024 presidential election: paying voters as part of a plan to identify and turn out conservative-leaning ones.
—Theodore Schleifer, New York Times, 21 Mar. 2025
Microsoft now faces a perfect storm of challenges in its AI gambit: massive data center pullbacks, lagging stock performance relative to tech peers, growing tensions with OpenAI, and a market that may be showing some slow down in its interest in all things AI.
—Jackie Snow, Quartz, 29 Mar. 2025
An older African American painter Ed Clark (1926-2019) had pioneered this gambit earlier by painting with a janitor’s push broom.
—Holland Cotter, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for gambit
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gambit
Noun
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Richie buys Harry's ruse regarding Tommy's murder, but there's a catch.—
Matt Cabral,
EW.com,
20 Apr. 2025
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The wedding started as an elaborate three-way ruse concocted by Wai-Tung, a gay Taiwanese American man; his white boyfriend, Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein); and Wei-Wei, an undocumented Chinese immigrant.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
19 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Nearly 30 years ago California legislators faced a test of their integrity in voting for an electricity deregulation scheme that ratepayers are still paying for.—
Jamie Court,
Mercury News,
19 Apr. 2025
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And perhaps the most frustrating and ironic aspect about these potential cuts is that in the scheme of the U.S. government’s overall budget, Mars gets much more of the planetary science budget than Venus.—
Bruce Dorminey,
Forbes.com,
18 Apr. 2025
Noun
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The company, which sells hot and iced coffee, tea, shakes, as well as burritos and tacos, also hosts classes to teach dogs tricks.—
Saleen Martin,
USA Today,
25 Apr. 2025
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Another simple trick to avoid seeming evasive: Answer questions with yes or no, first; get into the explanation afterwards.—
Rob Davis,
Forbes.com,
24 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Gambit.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gambit. Accessed 29 Apr. 2025.
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