checkmate

Pluralcheckmates

Formscheckmates, checkmating, checkmated

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   In chess, the conclusive victory reached when a player's king is under attack and has no legal move to avoid capture.

   Her bishop and queen combined to deliver checkmate before the hour was up.

   A sudden checkmate ended the tournament's longest match.

   Similarmate

   Note

   The noun works both as a mass noun and as a count noun. A player delivers checkmate, but a game may end in a quick checkmate. It also serves attributively. FIDE's 2023 Laws of Chess speak of "the checkmate position," which ends the game immediately, provided the move that produced it was legal.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   In chess, to maneuver an opponent's king into a position of unavoidable capture, ending the game in victory.

   He checkmated the champion with a daring queen sacrifice.

   You can checkmate a careless player by seizing the center early.

   Similarmate

   Note

   The verb's object can be either the player or the piece. An opponent checkmates you, yet FIDE's 2023 Laws of Chess describe the player "who has checkmated his/her opponent's king." Its forms are regular: checkmates, checkmating, checkmated. Speed is usually measured in moves, as in checkmated in four moves.

3. 3
   nounfigurativelyuncountable

   A hopeless predicament that offers no way out: complete, inescapable defeat.

   The merger left their rivals facing checkmate.

   With every exit blocked, the negotiators knew it was checkmate.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To maneuver someone into a position of total defeat from which there is no escape.

   Their bold strategy checkmated the competition within a year.

   A single leaked memo can checkmate an entire campaign.

   Similardefeat, outmaneuver, thwart, scupper

5. 5
   interjection

   Called out by a chess player when making the move that wins by trapping the opponent's king.

   "Checkmate," she said quietly, ending the long game.

   The boy slapped down his bishop and shouted, "Checkmate!"

   Note

   The cry at the board is a whole sentence in disguise: Classical Persian šāh māt, "the king [is] amazed," carried through Arabic šāh māta, Old French eschec mat and Middle English chekmat. It still behaves like a sentence, standing alone as an exclamation that the winner speaks at the moment of the winning move. The noun and verb uses of the word all grow from this call.

6. 6
   interjection

   An exclamation of triumph used when one has cornered another person in an inescapable defeat.

   "Checkmate," the detective said, presenting the evidence that ended the suspect's denials.

   With the last argument demolished, she leaned back and said, "Checkmate."

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