ENGLISH
REFERENCE

roulette

n. uncountable
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ɹuˈɫɛt// UK //ɹuːlˈɛt// roulette

n. a gambling game where a small ball is dropped onto a spinning wheel with numbered holes. You win if the ball lands on the number or color you chose.

n. a gambling game in which players bet on which compartment of a revolving wheel a small ball will come to rest in.


SIMPLE

He lost all his money playing roulette at the casino.

CONTEXTUAL

The crowd gathered around the table to watch the ball spin during a high-stakes game of roulette.

COMPLEX

While the odds in roulette are mathematically fixed, many players still believe they can predict the outcome by tracking previous winning numbers on the electronic display.

Origin

Borrowed from French roulette (“roulette, little wheel”). The sense "situation with a random chance of incurring serious harm" may be abstracted from Russian roulette.

Usage

Uncountable when referring to the game itself; countable when referring to a specific wheel or a variation of the game.

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