to declare checkmate

7.2

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

phrasal verb
/dɪˈklɛr ˈʧɛkˌmeɪt/

Jargon

: declarar jaque mate

As soon as she trapped his king, she declared checkmate and smiled.

Examples

The grandmaster calmly declared checkmate after an intense match.
Don't declare checkmate too early!
He confidently declared checkmate, ending the tournament finale.
The player declared checkmate with a confident smile.
As soon as she trapped his king, she declared checkmate and smiled.
He confidently declared checkmate, ending the tournament finale.
The grandmaster calmly declared checkmate after an intense match.

Synonyms

to signal the end

vsto declare checkmate

5 4.1

To show that something is finished

is the formal announcement that ends a chess game

Antonyms

to play out

18 3.0

To continue a game or match until it ends

How Final

to declare checkmate

Jargon

7.2

to checkmate

3 5.7

to check

Jargon

3 6.5

Surface Forms

declare checkmate infinitive

declared checkmate past

declared checkmate past participle

declaring checkmate present participle

declares checkmate third person singular

Morphology

declare + checkmate

Both constituents are literal and directly contribute to the overall meaning: 'declare' means to announce formally and 'checkmate' is the chess situation ending the game. A B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer that 'declare checkmate' means to announce that checkmate has been achieved, a straightforward verb + noun composition that is cross-linguistically transparent.

Etymology

Declare checkmate comes from chess: when a player's king is trapped and cannot move, the winner will declare checkmate to show the game is over, so declare checkmate means 'to officially announce that the game has ended because the king cannot escape'.