lottery

B1 Topic:Sports & Fitness

US /ˈlɑtɚi/ UK /ˈlɒtəɹi/ See IPA manual

Freq #5510

Meanings

1

noun
A game in which people buy numbered tickets and win prizes if their numbers are chosen by chance.

Dave plays the lottery almost every week.
2

noun
Something whose result depends on luck rather than skill.

Getting a good table at that restaurant is a bit of a lottery.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a game in which people buy... drawing

Word family

Forms lotteries

Derived forms antilotterye-lotterylotologistlotterylikenonlottery

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

lottery winner
a person whose lottery entry wins a prize

Noun + noun

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian lotteria, from the same root as Old English hlot (cognate with English lot). Compare French loterie (from Middle Dutch loterie). By surface analysis, lot + -ery.

lotteria Italian

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Sports & Fitness

External links

# lottery

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈlɑtɚi/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈlɒtəɹi/
**Frequency rank:** 5510

## Meanings
1. A game in which people buy numbered tickets and win prizes if their numbers are chosen by chance.
2. Something whose result depends on luck rather than skill.

## Examples
- Dave plays the lottery almost every week.
- Getting a good table at that restaurant is a bit of a lottery.

## Derived Forms
- antilottery
- e-lottery
- lotologist
- lotterylike
- nonlottery

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: lotteria

## Etymology
Borrowed from Italian lotteria, from the same root as Old English hlot (cognate with English lot). Compare French loterie (from Middle Dutch loterie). By surface analysis, lot + -ery.

## AI Etymology
Lottery was borrowed from Italian lotteria, from the same root as Old English hlot (cognate with English lot). Compare French loterie (from Middle Dutch loterie). By surface analysis, lot + -ery. In present-day English its meanings include a game in which people buy numbered tickets and win prizes if their numbers are chosen by chance and something whose result depends on luck rather than skill. Related and derived forms include antilottery, e-lottery, and lotologist.

## Topics
- Sports & Fitness

markdown