roulette
roulette — noun
1. a casino game on a spinning wheel with coloured numbered slots, where players be
a casino game on a spinning wheel with coloured numbered slots, where players bet on where a bouncing ball will land
Xiu placed her chips on red thirteen and watched the croupier spin the roulette wheel.
collocation: place chips / place a bet
The casino added two new roulette tables to meet the growing demand from visitors.
passive: roulette tables were added
Aylin won a small fortune at the roulette table on her first night in Monaco.
Brandon prefers roulette over poker because the rules are simpler and the game moves faster.
comparison pattern: prefers X over Y
Lucas lost track of time watching the silver ball bounce between the numbered slots.
collocation: silver ball / numbered slots
- place a bet on roulette
- spin the roulette wheel
- at the roulette table
- play roulette
Grammar Patterns
play roulette
bet on + [number/colour] at roulette
Common Mistakes
2. a situation in which the result depends entirely on luck, with no way to predict
a situation in which the result depends entirely on luck, with no way to predict or influence what will happen
Starting a business with no plan is financial roulette — win big or lose everything.
metaphorical: financial roulette
Every winter, the mountain drivers play roulette with the icy roads and sudden snowstorms.
pattern: play roulette with [danger]
Each hospital visit is a roulette spin that brings good or bad news for Otis.
Small farmers who plant only one crop are playing roulette with their yearly income.
pattern: play roulette with [income/livelihood]
Hiring someone based only on a five-minute interview feels like roulette to Gita.
collocation: feels like roulette
- play roulette with
- financial roulette
- like roulette
- be a game of roulette
- certainty
direct opposite in terms of predictability
- sure thing
informal opposite — something whose outcome is guaranteed
Grammar Patterns
(something) is roulette
play roulette with + [something valuable]
Usage Note
Always appears in figurative or metaphorical contexts — the underlying image is the unpredictability of the casino game. Common with the verb play or the phrase feel like / be like.
Common Mistakes
roulette — verb
1. to cut a row of small holes into paper or thin metal, creating a line along whic
to cut a row of small holes into paper or thin metal, creating a line along which the material can be torn apart easily
The printing machine rouletted the sheets of stamps so that buyers could tear them apart.
passive alternative: sheets were rouletted
Antonia used a metal wheel to roulette the paper edge for easy folding.
The factory roulettes each metal sheet so workers can snap off correctly sized panels.
present simple: describes a regular process
Linh watched the machine roulette the thin copper sheet with small, evenly spaced holes.
collocation: evenly spaced holes
Early postage stamps were often rouletted by hand before the invention of automatic perforation machines.
passive: were rouletted by hand
- roulette paper
- roulette stamps
- roulette metal
- roulette by hand
- seal
the opposite action — closing or joining rather than creating openings
Grammar Patterns
roulette + [material]
be rouletted
Usage Note
Rare in everyday speech; mostly found in discussions of stamp production, printing, and craft techniques. The passive form (be rouletted) is noticeably more common than the active.
Common Mistakes
Common collocations
Nouns
- roulette wheel
- roulette table
- roulette ball
Phrases
- like roulette
- a game of roulette
- a spin of the roulette wheel