From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhigh stakeshigh stakesa) if the stakes are high when you are trying to do something, you risk losing a lot or it will be dangerous if you fail Climbing is a dangerous sport and the stakes are high. b) if the stakes are high when you are doing something such as playing a card game, you risk losing a lot of money We’re playing for high stakes here. → stake
Examples from the Corpus
high stakes• Of course much depends on how the current high stakes budget negotiations play out.• He found Zacco lightly intoxicated, and playing dice for high stakes among a circle of friends.• You thought you'd play - for higher stakes than those he was offering.• But commander-in-chief Douglas MacArthur wanted to play for higher stakes.• I have relatively high stakes in conformity - I happen to have done fairly well out of it.• Especially when the players themselves happily accept the high stakes for which they play, gambling with their bodies.• It was the highest stakes ever.• The higher stakes have increased the temptation to overload the inflatable speedboats, called Zodiacs. 