ante
n. countablen. the amount of money players must put into the pot before a game of cards starts. In daily life, it refers to the cost or risk you must accept to join an activity.
n. a stake put up by a player in poker or similar games before receiving cards; by extension, the cost or level of investment required to participate in an endeavour.
Each player must pay a five-dollar ante to join the hand.
The new competitor raised the ante by offering free shipping on every order, forcing other companies to do the same.
In the high-stakes world of semiconductor manufacturing, the ante for entry is billions of dollars in research and development before a single chip is even produced.
Learned borrowing from Latin ante (“before”). Doublet of and.
Commonly used in the idiomatic phrase 'up the ante', meaning to increase the costs, risks, or stakes of a situation.