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Glite Dictionary
♟️ A chess win ♟️ To win in chess 🏆 Total defeat
to checkmate

to checkmate

3 5.7
To put an opponent's king under attack so it cannot escape
  • verb
  • /ˈtʃɛkˌmeɪt/
translation icon : dar jaque mate
  • In a strategic move, she managed to checkmate her opponent within just ten moves.
  • checkmate your opponent
  • checkmate the king

Examples

  • The Queen's knight stood guard, so it seemed, and must be disarmed before he, Dalmar, could make his move to checkmate the Queen.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Nikon checkmates his opponent, and the two leave.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Then when I checkmate your king, then what? I said.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • No, she said, her king would just stay put and wait until I checkmated her.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • I'll die before Shelly Runyon checkmates me.

    The Contender (2000)

  • He humiliated Lenin in a Zurich café by spotting him a queen and checkmating him in twenty moves.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • After a long battle on the chessboard, he finally checkmated the opposing king.

  • With his next move, he will checkmate me and win the game.

Synonyms

to mate
vsto checkmate
  • Jargon
6 7.1

To put the opponent's king in a position with no escape

is the same meaning but phrased as placing the king under attack

Phrasal Verbs

to declare checkmate
  • Jargon
7.2

To say the opponent's king cannot escape and the game ends

How Final

to checkmate
3 5.7
to check
  • Jargon
3 6.5

Surface Forms

checkmate infinitive
checkmated past
checkmated past participle
checkmating present participle
checkmates third person singular

Etymology

The verb checkmate comes from the Persian words shah and mat, meaning 'king' and 'helpless'. To checkmate someone is to put them in that hopeless position where they have no legal move and you win.