WikiWord

English

checkmate

/ˈt͡ʃɛkmeɪt/ · noun

Meaning

  1. The conclusive victory in a game of chess that occurs when an opponent's king is threatened with unavoidable capture.
  2. (by extension) Any losing situation with no escape; utter defeat.
  3. To put the king of an opponent into checkmate.
  4. (by extension) To place in a losing situation that has no escape.
  5. Word called out by the victor when making a move that wins the game.
  6. (by extension) Said when one has checkmated someone (placed them in a losing situation with no escape.)

Etymology / origin

No prose etymology has been added yet.

No ancestor words have been linked yet.

Related words

Descendant words

No descendant words have been linked yet.

Sources

  1. DictionaryAPI.dev English dictionary data
checkmate — meaning and etymology | WikiWord