checkmate

intj, noun, verb — 6 senses

checkmate

intj

/ˈt͡ʃɛkmeɪt/

Etymology From Middle English chekmat, from Old French eschec mat, from Arabic شَاه مَاتَ (šāh māta), from Classical Persian شاه مات (šāh māt, “the king [is] amazed”).

1

Board games, Chess, Games Word called out by the victor when making a move that wins the game.

2

Broadly Said when one has placed a person in a losing situation with no escape.

Synonyms
mate

checkmate

noun

Etymology From Middle English chekmat, from Old French eschec mat, from Arabic شَاه مَاتَ (šāh māta), from Classical Persian شاه مات (šāh māt, “the king [is] amazed”).

1

Board games, Chess, Games The conclusive victory in a game of chess that occurs when an opponent's king is threatened with unavoidable capture.

  • This immediately ends the game, provided that the move producing the checkmate position was in accordance with Article 3 and Articles 4.2 – 4.7.2022, “2023 Laws of Chess”, in FIDE, page 10:
2

Broadly, Figuratively Any losing situation with no escape; utter defeat.

Related terms
stalemate
Hyponyms
double checkmate, smothered checkmate

checkmate

verb

Etymology From Middle English chekmat, from Old French eschec mat, from Arabic شَاه مَاتَ (šāh māta), from Classical Persian شاه مات (šāh māt, “the king [is] amazed”).

1

Board games, Chess, Games To put the king of an opponent into checkmate.

  • My opponent checkmated me in four moves!
  • The game is won by the player who has checkmated his/her opponent’s king.2022, “2023 Laws of Chess”, in FIDE, page 10:
2

Broadly To place in a losing situation that has no escape.

  • Where is it? What does SCP-3125 look like? Its motivation, its origins, its modus operandi— how much of that can be known? Does it have to be known, to solve the problem? Does it matter how intelligent the intelligence is, once it's inside the box, once it's checkmated?2019 December 9, qntm, “Wild Light”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, page 191:
Derived terms
checkmater

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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