From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgambitgam‧bit /ˈɡæmbɪt/ noun [countable] 1 DO something/TAKE ACTIONsomething that you do or say which is intended to give you an advantage in an argument a clever debating gambit These questions are often an opening gambit (=the thing you say first) for a negotiation.2 DGBa planned series of moves at the beginning of a game of chess
Examples from the Corpus
gambit• At other times it is a gambit to extract the maximum price concession from the seller.• Still, this was a tidy, interesting account of a clever gambit from the University of Florence.• There are few conversational gambits in discussions or meetings.• His exit, when he truly is on his last legs, is his most effective gambit.• a political gambit• Nobody knew whether or not it worked but we derived a certain pleasure from the savagery of the gambit.opening gambit• Warwick's opening gambit is to blur the line between consciousness and intelligence.Origin gambit (1600-1700) Italian gambetto “act of making someone fall over”, from gamba “leg” 