Adjacent Words

checkmate definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: complete victory
2: a chess move constituting an inescapable and indefensible attack on the opponent's king [syn: checkmate, mate] v
1: place an opponent's king under an attack from which it cannot escape and thus ending the game; "Kasparov checkmated his opponent after only a few moves" [syn: checkmate, mate]

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb Etymology: Middle English chekmaten, from chekmate, interjection used to announce checkmate, from Anglo-French eschec mat, from Arabic sh?h m?t, from Persian, literally, the king is left unable to escape Date: 14th century 1. to arrest, thwart, or counter completely 2. to check (a chess opponent's king) so that escape is impossible II. noun Date: 15th century 1. a. the act of checkmating b. the situation of a checkmated king 2. a complete check

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 (also as int.) Chess a check from which a king cannot escape. b an announcement of this. 2 a final defeat or deadlock. --v.tr. 1 Chess put into checkmate. 2 defeat; frustrate. Etymology: ME f. OF eschec mat f. Pers. sah mat the king is dead

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Checkmate Check"mate, n. [F. ['e]chec et mat, fr. Per. sh[=a]h m[=a]t ceckmate, lit., the king is dead, fr. Ar. m[=a]ta he died, is dead. The king, when made prisoner, or checkmated, is assumed to be dead, and the game is finished. See Chess.] 1. The position in the game of chess when a king is in check and cannot be released, -- which ends the game. 2. A complete check; utter defeat or overthrow.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Checkmate Check"mate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Checkmated; p. pr. & vb. n. Checkmating.] 1. (Chess) To check (an adversary's king) in such a manner that escape in impossible; to defeat (an adversary) by putting his king in check from which there is no escape. 2. To defeat completely; to terminate; to thwart. To checkmate and control my just demands. --Ford.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

In chess, checkmate is a situation in which you cannot stop your king being captured and so you lose the game. = mate

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Beat (at chess), conquer, vanquish, put in check, put completely at fault, corner, entirely thwart.

Moby Thesaurus

arrest, baffle, bafflement, balk, balking, bell, blast, block, brake, brave, bring to, bring up short, challenge, check, circumvent, confound, confounding, confront, confusion, contravene, counter, counteract, countermand, counterwork, cross, cut short, cutoff, dam, dash, dead stop, deadlock, defeat, defy, destroy, discomfit, discomfiture, disconcert, disconcertion, discountenance, dish, disrupt, draw rein, elude, end, endgame, ending, final whistle, flummox, foil, foiling, freeze, frustrate, frustration, full stop, grinding halt, gun, halt, knock the chocks, lockout, nonplus, perplex, pull up, put paid to, rebuff, repulse, reversal, reverse, rout, ruin, sabotage, scotch, setback, sit-down strike, spike, spoil, stalemate, stall, stand, standoff, standstill, stay, stem, stem the tide, stonewall, stop, stop cold, stop dead, stop short, stoppage, strike, stump, thwart, thwarting, upset, walkout, work stoppage