gambit

1. 1.

   an opening remark intended to secure an advantage for the speaker

   Synonymsploy

   Broaderremark
2. 2.

   a maneuver in a game or conversation

   Synonymsploystratagem

   Broadermaneuver
3. 3.

   a chess move early in the game in which the player sacrifices minor pieces in order to obtain an advantageous position

   Broaderchess move

Other forms of gambit

plural

gambits·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about gambit

What does gambit mean?

gambit means "an opening remark intended to secure an advantage for the speaker". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in gambit?

gambit has 2 syllables: gam-bit. The stress falls on "gam". In IPA it is /ˈɡæmbɪt/.

What is another word for gambit?

Close synonyms include ploy, ploy, stratagem. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is gambit a common word?

gambit is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.