noun
roulette
roo-LEHT
noun
1
A casino gambling game where a ball spins around a numbered wheel and players bet on where it will land.
"She put her last chips on red at the roulette table."
"He watched the roulette wheel spin, hoping his number would come up."
2
A risky situation where the odds of serious harm are left to chance (as in the phrase "Russian roulette").
"Driving without insurance is a kind of financial roulette."
How to Use Roulette
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishUsually the spinning-wheel casino game, or a figurative way to describe a gamble with high stakes.
Common pairings
play roulette
roulette wheel
Russian roulette
roulette table
Word Forms
rouletted past tense, roulettes plural, roulettes singular
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She put her last chips on red at the _____ table.
Etymology
Borrowed from French roulette, meaning "little wheel," from roue ("wheel").