- game
- [[t]ge͟ɪm[/t]]
♦games1) N-COUNT A game is an activity or sport usually involving skill, knowledge, or chance, in which you follow fixed rules and try to win against an opponent or to solve a puzzle.
...the wonderful game of football.
...a playful game of hide-and-seek.
...a video game.
2) N-COUNT A game is one particular occasion on which a game is played.It was the first game of the season...
He regularly watched our games from the stands...
We won three games against Australia.
Syn:3) N-COUNT A game is a part of a match, for example in tennis or bridge, consisting of a fixed number of points.She won six games to love in the second set.
...the last three points of the second game.
4) N-PLURAL Games are an organized event in which competitions in several sports take place....the 1996 Olympic Games at Atlanta.
5) N-PLURAL Games are organized sports activities that children do at school. [BRIT]At his grammar school he is remembered for being bad at games but good in debates.
Syn:6) N-SING: usu poss N Someone's game is the degree of skill or the style that they use when playing a particular game.Once I was through the first set my game picked up.
7) N-COUNT You can describe a situation that you do not treat seriously as a game.Many people regard life as a game: you win some, you lose some...
It's a cat-and-mouse game to him, and I'm the mouse.
8) N-COUNT: usu with supp You can use game to describe a way of behaving in which a person uses a particular plan, usually in order to gain an advantage for himself or herself.When the uncertainties become greater than the certainties, we end up in a game of bluff...
Until now, the Americans have been playing a very delicate political game.
9) N-UNCOUNT Wild animals or birds that are hunted for sport and sometimes cooked and eaten are referred to as game.As men who shot game for food, they were natural marksmen.
10) ADJ-GRADED: v-link ADJ, oft ADJ to-inf, ADJ for n If you are game for something, you are willing to do something new, unusual, or risky.After all this time he still had new ideas and was game to try them...
He said he's game for a similar challenge next year.
11) → See also gamely12) PHRASE: V inflects If someone or something gives the game away, they reveal a secret or reveal their feelings, and this puts them at a disadvantage.The faces of the two conspirators gave the game away!
13) PHRASE: v-link PHR If you are new to a particular game, you have not done a particular activity or been in a particular situation before.Don't forget that she's new to this game and will take a while to complete the task.
14) PHRASE: v-link PHR If a man or woman is on the game, he or she is working as a prostitute. [BRIT, INFORMAL]15) PHRASE: PHR after v If you beat someone at their own game, you use the same methods that they have used, but more successfully, so that you gain an advantage over them.He must anticipate the maneuvers of the other lawyers and beat them at their own game...
The police knew that to trap the killer they had to play him at his own game.
16) PHRASE: v-link PHR If you say that something is all part of the game, you are telling someone not to be surprised or upset by something, because it is a normal part of the situation that they are in.For investors, risks are part of the game.
17) PHRASE: V inflects (disapproval) If you say that someone is playing games or playing silly games, you mean that they are not treating a situation seriously and you are annoyed with them.This seemed to annoy Professor Steiner. `Don't play games with me' he thundered...
From what I know of him he doesn't play silly games.
18) PHRASE If you say that someone has raised their game, you mean that they have begun to perform better, usually because they were under pressure to do so.The world No. 9 had to raise his game to see off a strong challenge from Dale...
As it expands its services around the continent, the competition it offers should force the other airlines to raise their game.
19) PHRASE: V inflects If you say the game is up, you mean that someone's secret plans or activities have been revealed and therefore must stop because they cannot succeed.Some thought they would hold out until Sunday. The realists knew that the game was already up.
English dictionary. 2008.
