dice
Small cubes with dots for numbers that you roll in games to get a random number.
Small cubes, usually with the numbers one to six shown as spots on their faces, used in games and gambling to produce random numbers.
To cut food into many small square pieces.
To cut food into small, roughly equal-sized cubes, usually for cooking.
Chance or luck that decides what will happen in a risky situation.
Chance or luck seen as the deciding force in a situation, especially when the outcome is uncertain or risky.
To play games for money by throwing dice and betting on the numbers.
To gamble by throwing dice and betting on the outcome.
- Base: dice
- Plural: dice
- Base: dice
- 3rd Person Singular: dices
- Present Participle: dicing
- Past: diced
a roll of the dice
1a risky chance-based action
A decision or action where the result depends a lot on chance.
- Starting a business is always a roll of the dice.
- For many students, choosing a major feels like a roll of the dice.
- Investing all your savings in one company is a huge roll of the dice.
dice with death
1take a deadly serious risk
To do something very dangerous that could easily cause death.
- Cyclists who run red lights in heavy traffic are dicing with death.
- Climbing that mountain in winter is really dicing with death.
- Without safety equipment, they were dicing with death on that building site.
loaded dice
1unfairly fixed to favor someone
Dice that are changed so they do not give fair results, or a situation that is arranged so one side has an unfair advantage.
- The game was fixed; they were using loaded dice.
- In this competition, smaller companies feel like they're playing with loaded dice.
- He claimed the tax system is like loaded dice against the poor.
no dice
1no way; not possible
Used to say that something will not happen or did not succeed.
- I asked for a pay rise, but it was no dice.
- You can try to change his mind, but no dice—he's decided.
- We wanted tickets for the final, but no dice, it was sold out.
roll the dice
1take a risk and trust chance
To do something risky and let chance decide what happens.
- Sometimes you just have to roll the dice and see what happens.
- They rolled the dice on a new product, and it became a big success.
- Quitting his job to travel was him rolling the dice with his future.
shoot dice
1gamble by throwing dice
To play a game for money by throwing dice and betting on the numbers.
- They like to shoot dice behind the bar after closing time.
- He got in trouble for shooting dice in the school parking lot.
- A group of men were shooting dice on the corner.
the dice are loaded against someone
1situation unfairly against someone
Used to say that something is arranged in an unfair way so that a person or group will probably fail.
- For many single parents, the dice are loaded against them from the start.
- He felt the dice were loaded against him in the trial.
- In some exams, students from poor schools think the dice are loaded against them.