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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

game.

A playful or competitive activity.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɡeɪm/[ɡeɪ̯m]General-American[ɡɛi̯m]British, Southern, Standard/ɡæɪm/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. A playful or competitive activity. A playful activity that may be unstructured; an amusement or pastime.

    countable · uncountable
    Being a child is all fun and games.
  2. A playful or competitive activity. An activity described by a set of rules, especially for the purpose of entertainment, often competitive or having an explicit goal.

    countable
    Games in the classroom can make learning fun.
  3. A playful or competitive activity. A school subject during which sports are practised.

    UK · countable · in-plural · uncountable
  4. A playful or competitive activity. A particular instance of playing a game.

    countable
    Sally won the game.
    They can turn the game around in the second half.
  5. A playful or competitive activity. Part of a set during which one player continuously serves (at least four rallies must be won to win a game, at least six games must be won to win the set).

    countable · uncountable
    Game, set and match!
  6. A playful or competitive activity. That which is gained, such as the stake in a game.

    countable · uncountable
  7. A playful or competitive activity. The number of points necessary to win a game.

    countable · uncountable
    In short whist, five points are game, while in in table tennis game is 21 points.
  8. A playful or competitive activity. In some games, a point awarded to the player whose cards add up to the largest sum.

    countable · uncountable
  9. A playful or competitive activity. The equipment that enables such activity, particularly as packaged under a title.

    countable
    Some of the games in the closet we have on the computer as well.
  10. A playful or competitive activity. One's manner, style, or performance in playing a game.

    countable · uncountable
    Study can help your game of chess.
    Hit the gym if you want to toughen up your game.
  11. A playful or competitive activity. Ellipsis of video game.

    abbreviation · alt-of · countable · ellipsis
  12. A field of gainful activity, as an industry or profession.

    countable · informal · singular · usually
    When it comes to making sales, John is the best in the game.
    He's in the securities game somehow.
  13. A field of gainful activity, as an industry or profession. The music industry.

    countable · informal · singular · uncountable · usually
    The rapper bragged about how he ran the game.
  14. Something that resembles a game with rules, despite not being designed.

    countable · figuratively
    In the game of life, you may find yourself playing the waiting game far too often.
  15. An exercise simulating warfare, whether computerized or involving human participants.

    countable
  16. A questionable or unethical practice in pursuit of a goal.

    countable
    You want to borrow my credit card for a week? What's your game?
  17. Wild animals hunted for food.

    uncountable
    The forest has plenty of game.
  18. A flock of swans, especially as kept for hunting purposes (or, originally, a group of any animals kept for such purpose).

    countable · uncountable
  19. The ability to seduce or woo someone, usually by strategy.

    informal · uncountable
    He didn't get anywhere with her because he had no game.
  20. Lovemaking, flirtation.

    archaic · countable · uncountable
  21. Prostitution. (Now chiefly in on the game.)

    countable · slang · uncountable
  22. Mastery; the ability to excel at something.

    slang · uncountable
  23. Diversion, entertainment.

    archaic · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *gamaną Proto-West Germanic *gaman Old English gamen Middle English game English game From Middle English game, gamen, gammen, from Old English gamen (“sport, joy, mirth, pastime, game, amusement, pleasure”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaman, from Proto-Germanic *gamaną (“amusement, pleasure, game", literally "participation, communion, people together”), from *ga- (collective prefix) + *mann- (“man”); or alternatively from *ga- + a root from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think, have in mind”). Cognate with Yola gaame, gaaume, gaume (“game”), Old Frisian game, gome (“joy, amusement, entertainment”), Dutch gemelijk (“cantankerous, crabbed”), Middle High German gamen (“joy, amusement, fun, pleasure”), Danish gammen (“merriment”), Icelandic, Norwegian Nynorsk gaman (“joy, fun”), Swedish gamman (“mirth, rejoicing, merriment”). Related to gammon, gamble.

adj/ɡeɪm/[ɡeɪ̯m]General-American[ɡɛi̯m]British, Southern, Standard/ɡæɪm/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. Willing and able to participate.

    colloquial
  2. That shows a tendency to continue to fight against another animal, despite being wounded, often severely.

  3. Persistent, especially in senses similar to the above.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *gamaną Proto-West Germanic *gaman Old English gamen Middle English game English game From Middle English game, gamen, gammen, from Old English gamen (“sport, joy, mirth, pastime, game, amusement, pleasure”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaman, from Proto-Germanic *gamaną (“amusement, pleasure, game", literally "participation, communion, people together”), from *ga- (collective prefix) + *mann- (“man”); or alternatively from *ga- + a root from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think, have in mind”). Cognate with Yola gaame, gaaume, gaume (“game”), Old Frisian game, gome (“joy, amusement, entertainment”), Dutch gemelijk (“cantankerous, crabbed”), Middle High German gamen (“joy, amusement, fun, pleasure”), Danish gammen (“merriment”), Icelandic, Norwegian Nynorsk gaman (“joy, fun”), Swedish gamman (“mirth, rejoicing, merriment”). Related to gammon, gamble.

verb/ɡeɪm/[ɡeɪ̯m]General-American[ɡɛi̯m]British, Southern, Standard/ɡæɪm/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. To gamble.

    intransitive
  2. To play card games, board games, or video games.

    intransitive
  3. To exploit loopholes in a system or bureaucracy in a way which defeats or nullifies the spirit of the rules in effect, usually to obtain a result which otherwise would be unobtainable.

    transitive
    We'll bury them in paperwork, and game the system.
  4. To perform premeditated seduction strategy.

    slang · transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *gamaną Proto-West Germanic *gaman Old English gamen Middle English game English game From Middle English game, gamen, gammen, from Old English gamen (“sport, joy, mirth, pastime, game, amusement, pleasure”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaman, from Proto-Germanic *gamaną (“amusement, pleasure, game", literally "participation, communion, people together”), from *ga- (collective prefix) + *mann- (“man”); or alternatively from *ga- + a root from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think, have in mind”). Cognate with Yola gaame, gaaume, gaume (“game”), Old Frisian game, gome (“joy, amusement, entertainment”), Dutch gemelijk (“cantankerous, crabbed”), Middle High German gamen (“joy, amusement, fun, pleasure”), Danish gammen (“merriment”), Icelandic, Norwegian Nynorsk gaman (“joy, fun”), Swedish gamman (“mirth, rejoicing, merriment”). Related to gammon, gamble.

adj/ɡeɪm/[ɡeɪ̯m]General-American[ɡɛi̯m]British, Southern, Standard/ɡæɪm/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. Injured, lame.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.